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1 | McCloskey Nuclear Business November 2011 ©IHS Global Limited mccloskeycoal.com

NOVEMbER �011 ISSUE 50

A CONTRACT TO build two new units at the Czech Republic’s Temelín nuclear power plant (NPP) could be the largest tender in Czech history and one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the European Union for the foreseeable future.

Czech utility CEZ on 31 October formally issued an invitation to three candidates bid-ding to complete units 3 and 4 at Temelin. The tender document calls for the supply of two complete nuclear power units on a full turn-key basis, including nuclear fuel supply for nine years of operation.

The deadline for submitting bids is 2 July 2012 and the winning bidder is expected to be announced and the contract signed in late 2013. The three candidates are a consor-tium led by US-based Westinghouse Electric Corporation (now part of Japan’s Toshiba) with its AP1000 reactor unit; France’s AREVA with its European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR1600); and a consortium led by Russia’s Atomstroyexport (ASE) with OKB Gidropress and Czech-based Skoda, off ering the MIR (Modernised International Reac-tor) 1200 unit.

The Czech Republic currently has six op-erating units – four Soviet-design VVER-440 units at Dukovany NPP and two VVER-1000 units at Temelin, which began operating in 2000 and 2003.

Temelin was originally conceived as a four-unit plant. In April 2009, local authorities in South Bohemia signed a contract with Czech state-owned power utility CEZ that cleared obstacles to the construction of Temelin-3 and -4, overturning a 2004 resolution block-ing construction of the units. CEZ chairman and CEO Daniel Benes said the invitations to bid were “an important step” towards ensur-ing a reliable supply of electricity to Czech customers in the coming decades, adding that completion of the Temelin NPP is “a key pillar” of CEZ’s strategy.

The tender documentation, with 6,000 pages and weighing over 70kg in its printed form, was put together over three years by a 400-strong team. All bids and plans must comply with the relevant legislation of the Czech Republic as well as applicable EU re-quirements and safety requirements defi ned by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Western European Nuclear Regulators’ Association (WENRA). Further-more, Benes said, the plans must also be licensed in the vendors’ home countries or in one of the EU member states. “The plans will only be licensed in the Czech Republic if the aforementioned set of requirements has been fulfi lled,” he emphasised.

Transparency in bidder selection AREVA is putting forward its EPR design, as licensed in Finland and France and eventu-ally also to be licensed in the UK and US. The ASE bid is based on the MIR-1200 third generation VVER model under construction in Russia at Leningrad Phase II and Novovo-ronezh Phase II. Westinghouse’s AP1000 is undergoing design certifi cation revisions soon to be complete in the US and is in the licensing process in the UK.

Bidders will have the opportunity to participate in joint meetings including site visits and a pre-bid conference. CEZ has promised to proceed in an “absolutely transparent manner” in selecting the sup-plier. The fi rst of the two new units should be launched in 2022 or 2023 and the second the following year.

Vaclav Bartuska, the Czech government’s envoy for energy matters, said the tender has no predetermined winner and all three bidders have a chance. “Criteria to evalu-ate the bids is set in the optimum ratio in which 50% is centred on technical specifi -cations including safety and licensing, and the remaining 50% on the economics of

battle for Temelincontract gets underway

Uranium PricesSpot 05-Sep 10-Oct 31-Oct

$ 51.00 52.75 52.00

€ 36.15 38.64 37.34Source: Ux Consulting (uxc.com)

wNA Nuclear Energy Index (total return)Aug-11 Sep-11 Oct-11

In US $ 2,963 2,647 2,923

In EURO € 1,832 1,756 1,866 index: 1000 = Dec 2001

Future Nov-11 Dec-11 Jan-11

CME 52.50 52.50 52.75Source: CME

Regional nuclear power overviewNo. UnitsInstalled

Under Con Planned

Europe 187 14 41

N. america 123 4 10

S. America 4 2 2

Asia 109 41 93

M. East 1 - 8

Africa 2 - -

Total 426 61 154

Capacity(Mw)Installed

UnderCon Planned

Europe 163,104 13,260 47,120

N. America 115,077 3,408 11,940

S. America 2,836 2,150 773

Asia 79,808 42,416 103,892

M. East 915 - 9,600

Africa 1,800 - -

Total 363,540 61,234 173,325

GenerationTwe(�010)

UraniumNeeded �011(t)

Europe 1,142.2 27,049

N.America 898.2 20,506

S.America 20.6 526

Asia 516.3 12,331

M.East - 168

Africa 12.9 304

Total 2,590.2 60,884Source: Derived from WNAdata

� | McCloskey Nuclear Business November 2011 ©IHS Global Limited mccloskeycoal.com

Contents For further in-depth coverage go to mccloskeycoal.comContents For further in-depth coverage go to mccloskeycoal.com

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LEADS

Battle for Temelin contract gets underway 1 Renewed pressure on Iran 5No showstoppers in UK Post-Fukushima Review 6Fission not criticality at Fukushima unit 2 8

FUKUSHIMA UPDATE

NPP released more radiation than reported 9Decontamination methods considered 10Dealing with waste material 11Government no longer promotes nuclear 11Bailing out Tepco 1�Fukushima update - briefs 1�

bUSINESS

EDF opposes Constellation-Exelon merger 1�Fluor takes majority stake in NuScale 13Cost recovery approved for two US utilities 13Energy Fuels and Titan seek merger 13US joint venture for tails management 14Rio Tinto outbids Cameco for Hathor 14AREVA sales down 15Russia to improve procurement transparency 15Russia restructures nuclear fuel industry 16TVEL plans rapid growth 16Commissioning of Russia’s floating plant delayed 17Business briefs 17

GENERAL DEVELOPMENT

Belgium shutdown agreement 19E.ON and RWE get taxes reimbursed 19China to scale back nuclear plans �0Bangladesh signs NPP deal with Russia �0Australia wavering on uranium sales to India �1Indian anti-nuclear protests continue �1Taiwan puts limits on nuclear power ��Vietnam’s programme draws interest ��Japan to continue nuclear plant exports �3UAE seeks approval for construction �3Russia prepares for reactor export �4Belarus and Russia sign NPP contract �4Armenian NPP settles pay dispute �4Belene financing still unresolved �5South Africa considers NPP tender �5General briefs �6

NEw bUILD

Finland’s EPR may face more delays �9New projects move forward in China 30China signs Tianwan II contract 30US Watts Bar-2 revises management 31US Vogtle newbuild under budget 31Russia’s Baltic NPP still seeking investors 31Progress continues at Russian NPPs 3�

PLANT OPERATIONS

UK Oldbury NPP to close 3�Plant operation briefs 3�

SUPPLY CHAIN EQUIPMENT

Ansaldo joins UK module partnership 33Equipment briefs

SAFETY & SECURITY

US NRC approves Fukushima recommendations 34Cracks found in US NPP containment 34Sweden increases earthquake protection 35Safety briefs 35

URANIUM

Olympic Dam hurdles 37Mixed results for Paladin 37Bannerman takeover falters 37Forsys gains 100%of Namibian project 38Uranium mining controversial in Tanzania 38AREVA puts Central African mine on hold 38Slovak resource estimate 39Colorado uranium lease programme halted 39US county backs mining moratorium 39New Mexico licencere activated 40UrAmerica and Cameco look to Argentina 40British Columbia compensates Boss Power 40Uranium briefs 40

FUEL - ENRICHMENT TO STORAGE

USEC centrifuge plant still on hold 4�Russia to start reprocessing RBMK fuel 4�Ukraine fuel plant gets local approval 4�Fuel briefs 43

wASTE MANAGEMENT

US waste solutions considered 44

EU studies find geological disposal effective 44Dounreay begins workon LLW store 45AREVA signs Ukraine waste pact 45Westinghouse team gets Bulgarian waste deal 45Serbia builds storage facility 46Continuing tension over Lithuanian storage 46Waste briefs 46

CLEAN UP

Spent fuel imports fund Mayak clean-up 47Clean up briefs 47

DECOMMISSIONING

Russia to develop decommissioning concept 48Decommissioning briefs 48

NUCLEAR MATERIALS

Activists sue to stop Los Alamos plutonium lab 48US support sisotope production 48

NEw TECHNOLOGIES

South Carolina to set up nuclear centre 49New technology briefs 49

PEOPLE

On the move 49

THE MNb INTERVIEw

Richard Myers, Nuclear Energy Institute 50

COUNTRY PROFILE

US Nuclear Fuel Cycle 5�

NUCLEAR PLATFORM

Mike Berriochoa, Washington River Protection Solutions 57

REGULARS

Uranium Market Round up 58Outage Watch 59Carbon Market View 59S&P’s Global Energy Indices 60Competing fuels, power prices and carbon 60Global Nuclear Capacity 61Nuclear Business Share Prices 6�Events Calendar 64

mccloskeycoal.com ©IHS Global Limited November 2011 McCloskey Nuclear Business | 3

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Another EPR under construction at Taishan in China is supposed to come on line ast the end of 2013, as is Westinghouse’s firs AP1000 unit at Sanmen in China. Unit 1 at Russia’s Leningrad II plant is also due for start-up in 2013.

AREVA’s caseMeanwhile the lobbying will continue. AREVA has criticised US support for Westinghouse, noting that Westinghouse, now owned by Japan’s Toshiba, employs fewer Americans than AREVA. “We have excellent relationships with the US energy industry as a whole,” AREVA’s Central and Eastern Europe Regional Director Thomas Epron told The Prague Post. “AREVA is the largest company operating in the nuclear field in the US, and the biggest employer in our sector.”

Epron repeated in a recent interview with Czech Position. He claimed that the EPR is the safest design, noting that it is the only one of the three reactors on offer to have received licences in the European Union. AREVA also claims that the EPR outstrips its rivals in productive performance. “Two of our reactors will have a total output of 3,300MWe, but three of the competitors’ reactors would be needed to reach that,” says Epron.

He points out that Westinghouse’s AP 1000, has not received licensing for construction in the US and alleges that the first four implementations of this new reactor, currently being built at the Sanmen and Haiyang NPPs in China, are behind schedule. He also disputes that Russia’s Leningrad II NPP will be ready by 2013 saying it will go online in 2014 at the very earliest, with 2015 or 2016 being a more realistic date.

AREVA says it would provide around 5,000 jobs locally if it wins the contract, but is declining for the time being to put a figure to the value of potential contracts for Czech subcontractors. “In order to be com-petitive, we have to harness local capacity to the maximum. And in this respect, we don’t believe the Russians have the edge,” Epson said.

In January, AREVA announced an official partnership with the Czech Technical University (CVUT)-Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, and the University of West Bohemia in Plzen where it is funding R&D projects and exchange programmes with French research institutes. Over the past year AREVA has also organ-ised a number of visits to French nuclear facilities by Czech nuclear engineers and scientists, and also state officials.

One argument that could be used in favour of the French bid is the fact that it is an EU member and French–Czech cooperation would enhance the union’s energy security. AREVA, however, claims it is not playing this card. “We don’t do geopolitics,” Epron told Czech Position. When pressed, he said the Czech Republic needs to “care-fully consider its strategic energy options,” nevertheless, he says this is political matter for the Czechs alone to decide.

Overall, however, AREVA is not making the same effort to win over the CEZ as either Westinghouse or Rosatom. Ruben Lazo, AREVA Chief Commercial Officer recently noted that, while the Temelin tender was “very strategically important” for AREVA, it also was focusing its resources in China and India, where it is building two and six EPR reactors respectively - and bidding for more.

American diplomacyWestinghouse appears to be depending more on diplomatic manoevring than technical arguments in the battle for Teme-lin. The issue clearly topped the agenda during Prime Minister Necas’s two-day visit to Washington. Underlying the importance

the offers, namely the price, commercial terms such as guarantees, payment terms or conditions in the supply of nuclear fuel,” CEZ said in a statement.

The tender includes an option for CEZ to order the contractor to build up to three more reactors at other sites under the same terms and conditions, one of which could be build by a joint venture be-tween the CEZ and Slovakia’s state nuclear company, JAVYS.

Frantic lobbyingThe formal invitation to tender was preceded by some frantic lob-bying by the bidders. Leaders have been shaking a lot of hands to push for preferred bids, which is “completely normal,” Bartuska said, denying the process has become overly politicised.

Temelín was the main issue discussed by Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas when he visited Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama on 27 October. A few days before, Rosatom CEO Sergei Kirienko had held talks with Necas during a trip to Prague, and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev is due to visit Prague in De-cember. Necas also visited French Industry Minister Eric Besson in February to discuss French participation in the tender, but generally the French have been less active in lobbying.

With the competition becoming more intense, speculation is mounting about which group has an advantage, especially as all three bidders face challenges, such as delays in the construction of their required reference reactors. AREVA’s EPRs being built in Finland and France are delayed and over budget; Westinghouse’s AP1000 has faced problems with regulatory approval in the US and UK, although these are now more or less resolved; and construction at Russia’s Leningrad NPP phase two, the reference model for MIR, was briefly suspended because of an accident at the site, but has now restarted.

Intelligence leak favours RussiaReports from the news site Aktualne.cz recently cited an unnamed source claiming to have seen documents from the Czech counter-intelligence agency (BIS) saying the Russian-led bid was the most attractive but was saddled by security concerns, and that AREVA was “out of the picture.” What is more, the French are probably not all that interested because they have “plenty of orders elsewhere,” Aktualne.cz commented.

Security concerns about Russia have been a sensitive aspect of the tender since it was first introduced in 2009, when then-energy secu-rity envoy Bartuska asked the Russian bid not be included and later that year two Russian diplomats were expelled for allegedly spying to obtain sensitive energy information.

“The Russians will get fair treatment like everyone else,” Bartuška said, adding the Aktualne.cz report was erroneous as there is no way for anyone to compare bids that have yet to be submitted. AREVA refused to comment on the alleged BIS report, calling it “purely speculative.”

None of the bidders have reference reactors up and running, which makes comparative study difficult. Bartuska, recently said it would be advantageous for the bidders, and for CEZ, to have at least one of their new reactors operating before a final decision is made on the tender Indeed, this could delay a decision on the supplier beyond 2013. Currently AREVA’s EPR being built at Olkiluoto in Finland is expected to be operating in 2014 following a series of delays and safety issues. It was originally scheduled for start up in 2009.


of the Temelín project to this visit, was the presence alongside Necas of Daniel Benes, the new CEZ The project was discussed with President Obama and US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “I have clearly assured Obama the tender will be fair and transpar-ent, that we expect three quality offers, and the best will win,” Necas said. US Ambassador to Prague Norman Eisen has lobbied extensively on behalf of Westinghouse since taking up his post early this year.

During his visit to Prague in October, Rosatom head Sergei Kirien-ko, said if the tender is decided primarily according to technologi-cal and economic criteria then the consortium headed by Rosatom has the best credentials to win, but if it is decided on geopolitical grounds, then it was a different matter. When asked at a press con-ference in Prague how Russia could match the high-level political lobbying being undertaken by Westinghouse, Kirienko said that if strategic allegiances were to be the deciding factor in selecting the tender winner Russia would lose. “There’s no doubt about that: the US is a more important geopolitical partner for the Czech Republic.” However, he said that in negotiations with Czech representatives, including special envoy Bartuska, he had “no feeling of bias” or that anything had already been agreed.

Kirienko emphasised safety, technology and the jobs the Rus-sian-led consortia could offer the Czechs. “However, we believe we can win on a practical level,” he said listing key factors he believes gives MIR 1200 the advantage. He claims the security credentials of the reactor are superior to Westinghouse’s AP1000. Gidopress claims the new VVER 1200 can withstand the impact of a plane weighing up to 400t and the reactor fully complies with the tight-ened safety recommendations drafted by the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) in response to the accident at the Fuku-shima plant in Japan.

Russia offers local participationThe cost of contracts to be awarded to Czech suppliers if the Rosatom bid wins could amount to €4-5bn (45.5-6.9bn), Kirienko told journal-ists at the Russian-organised nuclear industry suppliers forum, Ato-mex Europe that started in Prague on 25 October. Russia is also ready to transfer technologies which can be mastered rapidly by Czech en-terprises “given similarity of the technological platforms”, he added. In future, after the Temelin project is completed, Czech enterprises would then able to manufacture equipment for other projects being implemented by Rosatom in Russia and abroad, he noted.

Kirienko said he would sign agreements of cooperation with 12 Czech companies during his visit to the Czech Republic. The larg-est would be with machine engineering firm Vítkovice Holding. He stressedhat there were opportunities for cooperation with the Russian nuclear sector for all of the 300 or so Czech companies at-tending Atomex.

Rosatom believes that main advantage of the Russian is a unique combination of passive and active safety systems, reference reactors already built and the experience Czech specialists have in operat-ing Russia-designed plants. A central, if not pivotal, argument the Russian-led consortium will present in their bid is a high degree of localisation of the project. Up to 70% of the work on the Temelín proj-ect would go to Czech firms, compared with a maximum of 30% which he said AREVA or Westinghouse could offer: “Why only 30%? It’s not because they are greedy and wouldn’t want to outsource more. …It’s because they simply can’t; there’s not the local know-how.”

wider Russian co-operationWhen asked by Czech Position about the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade government’s draft energy strategy for the next 50 years leaked to the press in the summer, which proposes expanding ura-nium mining and establishing a full nuclear cycle including enrich-ment and disposal in deep repositories, Kirienko said the strategy is “altogether reasonable”. He added that Rosatom had already proposed potential cooperation to CEZ and the Czech government in the areas of uranium enrichment and disposal.

It would make economic sense for the Russian nuclear sector to build an enrichment facility in the Central European region if and when there are 10 or more VVER-type reactors in operation in the CEE region, he said.

A nuclear fuel fabrication plant may become an option within the Russian package of offers on Temelin, according to Fuel Company TVEL Vice President Vasily Konstantinov. He said discussions on the possibility of building a fuel fabrication plant in the Czech Republic was ongoing and a final decision was yet to be made by the company. “We are trying to cooperate and produce a good offer for the Czech market and Czech producers,” the executive explained.

The issue is global cooperation, participation of Czech companies and producers of equipment, in construction of nuclear reactors us-ing Russian technology not only in the Czech Republic but in third countries as well. In this case, “fuel fabrication will become an inher-ent constituent of the cooperation,” Konstantinov said.

Czech involvementDeals with Czech companies will have varying degrees of impor-tance, said Radek Skoda, a lecturer from the Energy Institute at the Czech Technical University in Prague. The Czech nuclear industry has not been running at full capacity for some time, he added, mak-ing some of the suppliers or services less available than others.

“In the end, there are not so many suppliers in some areas...You need big companies to build all the concrete and foundations, and they are likely to be involved in all three or at least two of the bids,” Skoda said. He added companies have an interest in not limiting themselves to any one bidder, especially during a recession. Even Skoda JS, which is part of the Russian-led consortium, has not ex-cluded the possibility of being involved in the other two bids.

Skoda JS is currently working with AREVA on other projects, and was present at a meetings in Washington with Westinghouse offi-cials. “Some participants are trying to have eggs in many baskets,” Skoda said.

As a concrete step toward increasing Czech-Russian co-operation, a memorandum was signed by Czech and Russian enterprises at Atomex-Europe establishing Prague Atomic Alliance production and trade association. Companies included IBC, Prahaspol, ZVUPoteza, SigmaGroupa, Arako spol, ArmaturkaKrnova from the Czech Re-public and AMT Group and Nizhniy Novgorod Nuclear Engineering Business Centre from Russia.

Rusatom Overseas, an affiliate of Rosatom, signed cooperation agreements with 15 Czech companies, including Arako, Modrany Power, Ckd Group, Mpower Engineering, Envinet, Sigma Group, Ex-mont Energo, Skoda JS, Hochtief Cz, Vítkovice, Chemcomex Praha, Zat, Chladící veze Praha, ZVVZ-Enven Engineering and Kralovopol-ska Ria. The agreements involve specific cooperation projects on con-struction of Russia-designed NPPs both in Russia, Czech Republic and third countries.

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Skoda JS Director General Miroslav Fial said this provided an op-portunity forCzech producers to go beyond the Temelin project and “jointly build up cooperation both in the Russian nuclear marker and in third countries’ markets” through the cooperation with Rosatom.

Russia’s engineering holding Atomenergomash, which owns Czech machine engineering companies ARAKO and Chladici veze Praha, is ready to establish a machine engineering centre in the Czech Republic. Atomenergomash Director General Vladimir Kashchenko told Atomex-Europe. The company, is considering setting up a common production and engineering cluster in central Europe based on these and other assets.

One of the centre’s objectives will be deployment, at Czech en-terprises, of technologies for manufacture of machine engineering equipment for NPPs being built in Russia and third countries, and for other power industry facilities. The Atomenergomash also does not rule out acquisitions of new machine engineering assets in the Czech Republic.

Renewed pressure on IranLAST MONTH’S SIGNS of moves towards a settlement of the Iran issue were clearly a false dawn. In the run up to the November Interna-tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board meeting Iran has come under immense pressure again from the US and its allies.

New Western intelligence reports and other dramas which were so strangely absent before the September IAEA General Conference are predictably in the forefront of the news again in the run up to the November board. This time they are accompanied by media reports of Israeli plans for a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The deterioration began in early October with reports (which were unsubstantiated) that Iran was implicated in a clumsy and absurd plot to murder the Saudi Arabia Ambassador to the US. While the press was full of details of the evidence to support Iranian involve-ment in this, there were no reports explaining what Iran could conceivably have hoped to gain by this.

Officials in Tehran said they were ready to investigate allegations by the US that the Quds Force plotted to kill the Ambassador. “We are ready to patiently investigate any issue, even if it’s fabricated,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. “We also asked America to give us the information related to this scenario.” Salehi and other Iranian officials, however, continued to maintain that Iran had nothing to do with the alleged plot, which they dismissed as a “bad Hollywood script.”

The best explanation the “experts” could offer for what they acknowledged was a “bizarre’ plot was that Iran was beginning to crack under the strain. In any event, this and the latest intelligence reelations, have set the scene for more stringent sanctions on Iran. US administration officials briefed key lawmakers on the “plot”, and a number of senators and former officials publicly called for stronger action against Iran beyond existing sanctions that critics say have failed to have any real impact on Iran.

Another IAEA report The IAEA is due to produce another report on Iran shortly and the agency has been under severe pressure from the US and its allies on one side and Russia and China on the other on how it should dela with the “new” intelligence information. According to several

sources, the West’s documents have been relegated to the appendi-ces of the report by Agency Director General Yukiya Amano, much to the annoyance of the US.

According to Pierre Canesa, deputy research fellow at the Insti-tute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS,) the report is being manipulated. “The Agency’s boss is cornered now,” he says. “If his report is not tough enough on Tehran, he will be accused of having concealed evidence under pressure from the Russians and the Chinese. If, however, it points an accusing finger at the Iranians, people will say that he has yielded to pressure from the Americans and the French.”

The IAEA report is expected to unveil detailed intelligence point-ing to military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear programme, while stopping short of saying explicitly that Tehran is trying to build such weapons. The report will expand on concerns voiced by the IAEA for several years over allegations that Iran had a linked programme of projects to process uranium, test high explosives and modify a missile cone to take a nuclear payload. It is not believed to contain an explicit assessment that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons capa-bility. “The IAEA’s report will not likely contain any smoking guns,” said Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The UN Security Council, with the reluctant backing of Iran’s traditional supporters, Russia and China, has imposed four rounds of increasingly tough sanctions on Tehran since 2006. However, these would have been much more severe without the moderating influence of Moscow and Beijing, say sources close to the IAEA. Now a concerted effort is being made by the West to create conditions for greatly increased sanctions.

Threats of military actionResponding to a report in The Guardian that Britain was stepping up military contingency plans amid mounting concerns about Iran, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office said that London was keep-ing all options open - including the possibility of military action. “We want a negotiated solution, but all options should be kept on the table,” a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

The Guardian report said the UK Ministry of Defence believed the US may accelerate plans for missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities and cited British officials as saying it would seek and receive military help from Britain for any mission. Other sources, however, say Israel would be more likely to use military force against Iranian nuclear facilities than the US.

The French Liberation website quoted the representative of “a mi-nor country of the Community of Independent States” as saying, “So these are the real stakes that are still being concealed from us.” He said the purpose of the sabre rattling by the US and France is “to sell Moscow and Beijing the toughest economic sanctions ever adopted against Iran; they want to stifle the regime before contesting the elections again, and since they know that they will never succeed in having the Security Council adopt them, following NATO’s excesses in Libya, they are holding us to ransom: adopt our sanctions, or we can’t promise you that we will be able to restrain (Israeli Prime Min-ister) Netanyahu.”

Programme setbacks allegedAlong with the sabre rattling, the Western press has also been carry-ing reports that Iran’s nuclear programme is suffering new setbacks, with suggestions that it has never fully recovered from the Stuxnet

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cyber attacks on its nuclear facilities and the assassination of several leading nuclear scientists. The Washington Post quoted “Western diplomats and nuclear experts” as saying the programme “appears beset by poorly performing equipment, shortages of parts and other woes as global sanctions exert a mounting toll”,

The paper says output is falling at Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility due to equipment failures. It adds that new centrifuges recently introduced at Natanz contain parts made from an inferior type of metal that is weaker and more prone to failure, according to a report by the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington nonprofit group widely regarded for its analysis of nuclear programs.

The Institute says that Iranian scientists replaced more than 1,000 crippled machines following the Stuxnet computer virus attacks. The Natanz plant appeared to quickly recover, with production sur-passing levels seen before the attack but the gains have not lasted.

“The decline could stem from the lingering effects of the cyberat-tack, or it could indicate that Iran’s centrifuges are simply wearing out. In any case, the decline is so significant that Natanz is incapable of fulfilling the needs of the country’s only nuclear power plant”, the paper said, quoting the Institute. This is a strange assertion given that fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant is being supplied by Russia. The Institute contends that Iran is using inferior carbon fibre steel in the new centrifuges now being installed in Nataanz and another enrichment facility near Qom, compared with the Maraging steel used in the prototype machines.

Progress continuesHowever, regardless of the reported “setbacks” to its programme, Iran in the past few months has begun producing 20% enriched fuel intended for its Tehran research reactor which is used to produce medical isotopes. Production of this fuel is being moved to the Fordow facility near Qom which is an underground facility offering better protection against military attacks.

To date Iran has produced 70 kg of 20% enriched uranium and will inaugurate a new facility to turn it into research reactor fuel plates within the next three months. At the same time, the first batch of home-produced uranium oxide has been shipped to the Isfahan Ura-nium Conversion Facility, most probably from a uranium mine in the province of Yazd and the nearby mill at Ardakan. Iran’s permanent representative to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, has previously said that Iran needs 120 kg of 20% enriched uranium to fuel the Tehran research reactor. MNBwillanalysethelatestIAEAreporton Iranindetailinthenextissue.

No showstoppers in UK Post-Fukushima ReviewIN A 300-PAGE post-Fukushima safety review, Dr Mike Weightman, head of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and executive head of the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), found no fundamental safety weaknesses in the UK nuclear industry, but concluded that lessons from the accident could boost safety further.

The report found no reason to curtail operations of UK nuclear fa-cilities or change siting strategies for newbuild nuclear power plants

(NPPs), but identified more than 30 areas where the UK could learn from the Japanese crisis. These included reliance on off-site infra-structure such as the electrical grid supply in extreme events, emer-gency response arrangements, plant layout, risks associated with flooding, planning controls around nuclear facilities and prioritising safety reviews. Weightman report drew on national and interna-tional experts, and a June fact-finding mission to Japan including the Fukushima-Daiichi NPP.

The report concluded that the direct causes of the Fukushima nuclear accident—a magnitude nine earthquake and the associated 14-metre high tsunami—were far beyond the most extreme natural events that the UK would be expected to experience. However,

Fukushima demonstrated problems when the vulnerabilities of older plants were not recognised and addressed, leading to a conclusion that work to clean up legacy wastes in ponds and silos at Sellafield must be pursued “with utmost vigour and determination.”

Weightman said ONR would continue to monitor detailed techni-cal information as it emerged from Japan. “We will ensure lessons are learned from Fukushima. Action has already been taken in many cases, with work under way to further enhance safety at UK sites.” ONR has asked the UK nuclear industry to deliver progress reports by June 2012 and will publish a report on this later that year.

Huhne stresses safety Chris Huhne, head of the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) presented the report to parliament. A government statement said additional information received since the interim report “reinforced and further validated” its findings.

He told a Royal Society meeting in London that, while nuclear has a role in UK electricity generation, government and industry must learn from past mistakes, otherwise nuclear policy could become “the most expensive failure of post-war British policy-making”. The UK has 6,900m2 of high-level nuclear waste and manages the world’s largest plutonium stocks—more than 100t. Half of DECC’s budget goes to “cleaning up this mess, and it will rise to two thirds” in 2012, he said. The government is paying £2bn/year ($3.1bn/year) to clean up and manage £49bn in nuclear liabilities, and the UK was “continuing to pay for electricity that was consumed in the fifties, sixties and seventies on a false prospectus”, he added.

However nuclear can be a vital and affordable means of providing low carbon electricity electricity and should play a part in the UK’s energy future, provided new NPPs are built without public subsidy, he said. He noted that nuclear planning consultant Arup has esti-mated costs at £66/MWh for nuclear, £95/MWh for gas with carbon capture and £130/MWh for offshore wind, including waste and decommissioning costs. Based on Weightman’s report, he said there was no reason for the UK to curtain nuclear power use.

EDF Energy and Centrica reaffirm plansEDF Energy (a subsidiary French power producer Electricite de France -EDF) and its partner Centrica, said they would review the Weightman findings and build them into their plans. EDF CEO Vincent de Rivaz said the report would provide a valuable input to the process of continuous improvement and welcomed reaffirmation that ‘UK nuclear facilities have no fundamental safety weaknesses”.

Since and earlier interim report from Weightman, EDF has car-ried out additional work to strengthen safety, he added, including providing additional training in severe accident management for key

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technical staff. EDF also is enhancing backup equipment, such as cooling system electrical supplies, fuel pool cooling, and emergency command and control facilities. EDF invests more than £300m/year on its UK nuclear fleet, and will invest even more as a result of Fuku-shima, he noted.

The Weightman report reconfirmed that, subject to implementing its recommendations, no safety issues that would prevent EDF/Cen-trica plans for newbuild NPPs. This is important, he said, “because Britain needs new nuclear to tackle the three challenges of keeping the lights on, keeping prices affordable and reducing emissions”.

In early November, EDF Energy submitted thousands of pages of documents to ONR as required under the European Union’s (EU) stress testing programme. Following Fukushima, NPP operators in all EU member countries were required to submit safety assessments to their regulators, who would report to the EU in 2012.

EDF’s response to the Weightman report and to ONR for the EU stress tests, have been combined into a Comprehensive Safety As-sessment. An expert team, with independent verification, is coordi-nating the effort. EDF’s UK team is working closely with colleagues in France to share experience appropriate to the European context.

De Rivaz said the comprehensive safety review confirmed the safe design of EDF’s UK nuclear fleet. “The assessment has proved that we are very robust under the most extreme scenarios, even those far beyond what could ever be plausible in the UK—including combina-tions of flooding, seismic events, fire and extreme weather—and confirmed that the plants would operate safely as they are designed to do.”

Hinkley Point applicationEDF Energy delivered a development consent order to the Infrastruc-ture Planning Commission (IPC) to build and operate a new two-unit, 3,260MWe NPP at Hinkley Point in Somerset with associated infrastructure. IPC, an independent body that examines applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects, has until the end of November to decide whether to accept the submission. IPC only will publish the documents after the application has been formally accepted. Individuals and organisations will then be able to view the documentation, register their interest and make representations.

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change will make the final decision on whether to grant development consent based on IPC’s recommendation. However, the IPC process is still subject to the enactment of a new Localism Bill currently before parlia-ment. De Rivaz said that the development consent application would include an indicative timetable, although no decision on a start date is likely before a final investment decision is made.

Horizon’s wylfa NPP plans proceedHorizon Nuclear Power, the UK consortium that plans to build a new NPP on the island of Anglesey in north Wales, has completed the land purchase for the plant. Horizon secured rights to purchase the land near the proposed Wylfa-B site at auction in 2009 subject to a number of conditions that have now been met.

Horizon, a joint venture between E.ON UK and RWE Npower, is bringing forward plans to build up to 3,300MWe new capacity at Wylfa, with the first unit scheduled to come online around 2020. It plans to deliver 6,000MWe of new nuclear capacity in the UK by 2025. The Wylfa site currently hosts two 490MWe Magnox reactors.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc has received an extension to its

marine environmental services contract from Horizon to support the Wylfa newbuild. Officials did not disclose the contract value.The work includes a baseline marine ecology survey programme cover-ing fisheries, benthos, marine birds, plankton and water quality; environmental impact assessments; option appraisals; and Habitat Regulations Assessments (HRA) for the new NPP and its associated infrastructure.

New UK NPPs by �0�0The first new UK NPP is likely to come online around 2020, two years later than the initial projected start date, according to French bank Societe Generale (SG), which also noted a rise in construction risks and costs. EDF Energy has admitted its scheduled start date in 2018 for Hinkley Point has slipped, without giving a new date. SG analysts explained that one reason for the expected delays was the require-ment for increased security during construction and operation, which will translate to higher risks and costs and has “jeopardised nuclear competitiveness”.

Before the next generation of NPPs come on line, the UK faces a capacity shortage as old thermal plants are shut down. New low-car-bon capacity plants, such as coal plants fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, will be slow to come on line, SG said. Analysts expect baseload power prices for delivery in 2014 to rise 13% above current year-ahead levels to £63.5/MWh ($102.2/MWh) as supply margins tighten. The UK may face more of a deficit after 2016 because of the long lead times to build new clean generation (nuclear and/or coal CCS) and the retirement of a sizeable part of the thermal fleet. However sluggish demand growth will help level out the impact a tighter supply as consumption is forecast to rise at an average rate of only 0.7%/year until 2015 under normal weather conditions, SG said.

SG said the UK power market will be well supplied over the next two years. This winter, it is expected to rely less on power imports from neighbouring markets because Germany’s nuclear shutdown will draw higher imports from markets such as France and the Netherlands, which also export to the UK. However, there is suf-ficient overcapacity and no major structural impact is expected in the near term.

Interim approval for reactor designsONR and the UK Environment Agency (EA) expect to issue interim approvals for the Westinghouse AP1000 and AREVA UK EPR reactor designs by the end of the year, according the latest quarterly progress report on the UK’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA). In July, ONR and EA completed their initial assessment of the safety cases and listed thbe issues that remained to be resolved .

The GDA process allows the generic safety, security and environ-mental aspects of new reactor designs to be assessed before applica-tions are made for permits to build on a particular site. The GDA only needs to be completed once for each design, speeding up subsequent site licencing and providing investors with more certainty.

The latest progress report for the period from June to September, said the only resolution plans still to be agreed address issues from the Fukushima accident. ONR and EA said companies should be able to use the Weightman report to develop those plans. If the agencies find the plans “credible”, they will consider providing an interim Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) and interim Statement of Design Acceptability (SoDA) for each design.

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ONR would issue the interim DAC and reference a full suite of technical assessment reports published at the same time. EA would issue the interim SoDA, which would reference a parallel set of final assessment reports.

Westinghouse has requested a pause in the GDA process for the AP1000 once the interim DAC and SoDA have been issued, and has signalled that it will not proceed to address GDA issues until it can secure funding for the work. However, AREVA and EDF plan to execute their resolution plans “without delay” and have commit-ted to provide sufficient evidence to secure the full certificates, After the interim DAC and SoDA are issued, the agencies will focus solely on the close-out phase for the UK EPR. Both applicants had paid about £24.5m ($39.3m) in regulatory charges for the GDA by the end of June.

FUKUSHIMA UPDATE

Fission not criticality at Fukushima unit �THE DISCOVERY IN early November of xenon in the containment of Fukushima Daiichi 2 raised fears about renewed criticality inside the reactor, but further investigations suggested that it was probably due to spontaneous fission, a process of radioactive decay which does not involve any chain reaction.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) initially said particles from melted fuel in unit 2 might have “temporarily triggered a criticality incident”. This means the particles were of a configuration that could have led to a self-sustaining chain reaction.

In a statement the company said it had begun spraying boric acid to prevent accidental chain reactions. Tepco said it found xenon, which is associated with nuclear fission, while examining gases taken from the reactor. One hundred thousandth of a becquerel per cubic centimetre of xenon-133 and xenon-135 was detected in gas samples, the company reported.

Xenon-133 and xenon-135 are created through nuclear fission and are not usually detected even when a reactor is in operation because fuel rods are enclosed in gas-tight zirconium metal tubes. This sug-gested that fission might have occurred in the melted fuel, or corium , also called fuel containing material (FCM) or lava-like fuel contain-ing material (LFCM). It is a molten mixture of portions of nuclear reactor core, formed during a nuclear meltdown. It comprises of uranium fuel, fuel clads, and other core-internal material.

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), however, said there have been no drastic changes in the reactor’s temperature and pressure level, and the reactor was stable overall. NISA spokes-man Yoshinori Moriyama, a, told NucNet there is a possibility fission started from some small pieces of melted fuel. However, the fission was probably small and partial, he said, adding, “large-scale fission was unlikely”.

Tepco said it considered the source of the xenon to be spontaneous fission on the grounds that it had injected boric acid to the reactor vessel to reduce the likelihood of chain fission reactions but was still able to detect xenon. Temperature and pressure data from the unit also showed no change around the time of the xenon’s discovery which also indicated that no that chain reactions were taking place. While spontaneous fission is infrequent, it nevertheless occurs

continuously at a low level in all nuclear reactors and is one of several possible forms of radioactive decay.

Temperatures and pressures at all the damaged reactors at Fuku-shima have been stable and declining for several months, and all are now well below the target temperature of 100ºC: units 1, 2 and 3 are at 59.4ºC, 76.3ºC and 71ºC respectively. Airborne radioactive emis-sions from the site have dropped to within normal operating limits.

Tepco continues to focus on repairing and remediating the site to bring it to a proper level of safety and ultimately decommission it. As part of this work, the company restarted a gas management system in unit 2’s containment vessel on 28 October. It was samples taken from system which contained the xenon. These isotopes have a short half-life of less than six days wich meant the fission which produced them had occurred fairly recently. However, sustained fis-sion would also result in other products such as isotopes of caesium, iodine and molybdenum, which were not found in the samples.

Japan’s government now plans to study ways to confirm that sustained nuclear fission has not resumed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, Goshi Hosono, said he supported the view that xenon was produced through spon-taneous fission, not sustained fission, or criticality.Hosono said a precondition for putting the plant’s reactors into a cold shutdown is ensuring that the accident will no longer escalate, and an absence of criticality is one way to achieve such a state.

Fukushima closure could take 30 yearsA Japanese government panel said in late October that it will take at least 30 years to safely close the the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The estimate was contained in a draft of a report to be submitted to a committee on medium- and long-term decommissioning measures and finalised later this year. The draft was posted on the Japan Atom-ic Energy Commission website. The panel noted that it took 10 years to remove nuclear fuel after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US, and suggested that the process at Fukushima would be much more complicated and would take longer. It is also expected to be more costly. A report in Yomiuri newspaper, said independent ex-perts believe the process will cost more than JPY1,500bn ($19.2bn).

The panel said removal of the fuel rods at Fukushima would not begin until 2021, after the repair of the plant’s containment vessels. It noted that the biggest challenge in decommissioning the reactors will be collecting nuclear fuel and safely managing the material once it is gathered. In the draft plan, the panel also said work to remove fuel remaining in the spent nuclear fuel pools adjacent to the reac-tors should start in 2015. The decommissioning process will begin next year by installing cranes and building containers to store fuel.

Interim measuresAs an interim measure, unit 1 now has an outer shell made of air-tight polyester designed to contain radioactive particles inside the building. Similar covers are planned for other units. Tepco has been building the casing for unit 1 since June. The cover was installed on 28 October. It is 54 metres high, 47 metres wide and 42 metres deep, and has a ventilation system that filters out radioactive substances. Tepco said that during pilot tests, the system removed more than 90% of radioactive caesium from the reactor.

Tepco has also started building a water-shielding wall at unit 1 to prevent polluted groundwater from leaking into the sea. It will in-stall a total of 700 water-proof steel pipes to totally cover the exist-

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ing seawalls of units 1 and 4. The wall will be 800 metres long. Each pipe, weighing 10t, is 22 metres long and one metre in diameter. The work is expected to take two years. At present, the seawalls of the four reactors are covered with cement in order to prevent leaks of contaminated water into the sea.

Cold shutdown this yearThe government and Tepco say they are still hoping to achieve a stable condition – cold shutdown - by the end of this year. They also said in the road map, which is updated every month, that they have succeeded in reducing the amount of highly radioactive water ac-cumulating at the plant.

Realising cold shutdown and reducing the contaminated water are key goals in the “step 2” phase of the road map, and the aim is to achieve this step by January at the latest. The temperature of the pressure vessels of unit 1 to 3 reactors is now well below the target of 100 degrees C and radioactive emissions are also much reduced but NISA said it needs further assessment on the radioac-tive emissions from the unit. 3 reactor and has to check whether the plant’s safety can be ensured in the medium-term before declaring the end of step 2.

Tepco has drawn up a set of measures to ensure safety at the plant and has submitted the programme to NISA. Earlier in October NISA instructed Tepco to work out measures necessary to ensure the safe-ty at the plant for a period of about three years between the planned completion of Step 2 under its roadmap and the start of work to scrap reactors at the power station.

Tepco aims to boost the reliability of the current water-circulation cooling system for the reactors and fuel pools on the assumption that the cooling method will be continued for the next three years. It also plans to secure alternative ways of reactor cooling in case of emergencies. Tepco plans to replace hoses used for water injection with those made of polyethylene which is more durable, and install insulation materials and heating devices to prevent the water injec-tion system from freezing up during the winter.

Investigating panelA panel set up by the Japanese government to investigate the causes of the Fukushima disaster has chosen three experts from other countries to seek advice. The experts are Richard Meserve, former chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and President of the Carnegie Institution, Andre-Claude Lacoste, Chairman of the French nuclear safety authority, and Lars-Erik Holm, head of Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare and formerly a Chairman of the International Commission on Radio-logical Protection.

The panel members said that the opinions of the foreign experts would not be reflected in their midterm report due out in December, but they would invite the experts to Japan around February for a conference. Yotaro Hatamura, head of the panel, indicated the inves-tigation was progressing, saying “quite a lot of things have become clear,” but he did not give details.

The panel has gathered information from around 340 people, but Hatamura said they did not include politicians involved in the handling of the nuclear crisis. Hatamura also countered doubts that the panel may be “intimidated,” saying, “The relation between the accident and politics should be made clear at some point, but it’s not that you should just pose questions blindly (to politicians).”

NPP released more radiation than reported

The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) in March released far more radiation than the Japanese govern-ment reported, according to a study based on radioactivity data from around the world. The study also suggests that, contrary to govern-ment statements, spent fuel pools played a significant part in the release of the long-lived environmental contaminant caesium-137, which could have been prevented by prompt action. The analysis has been posted online for open peer review by the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Andreas Stohl, an atmospheric scientist with the Norwegian Institute for Air Research in Kjeller, who led the research, believes that the analysis is the most comprehensive effort yet to understand how much radiation was released from Fukushima Daiichi. “It’s a very valuable contribution,” says Lars-Erik De Geer, an atmospheric modeler with the Swedish Defense Research Agency in Stockholm, who was not involved with the study.

The reconstruction relies on data from dozens of radiation moni-toring stations in Japan and around the world, many part of a global network to watch for tests of nuclear weapons . The scientists added data from independent stations in Canada, Japan and Europe, and combined those with large European and American caches of global meteorological data.

Stohl warns that the resulting model is not perfect. Measurements were scarce after the Fukushima accident, and some monitoring posts were too contaminated to provide reliable data. More importantly, exactly what happened inside the reactors remains a mystery that may never be solved. “If you look at the estimates for Chernobyl, you still have a large uncertainty 25 years later,” says Stohl.

Challenging numbersJapanese investigators had already developed a detailed timeline of events following the 11 March earthquake that precipitated the disaster. But accounting for the radiation from the plants has proved much harder than reconstructing the chain of events. The latest report from the Japanese government, published in June, says that the plant released 1.5x1,0016 bequerels of caesium-137, an isotope with a 30-year half-life that is responsible for most of the long-term contamination from the plant. A far larger amount of xenon-133, 1.1x1019Bq, was released, according to official government estimates.

On the basis of its reconstructions. thee new study challenges those numbers. The team says the accident released around 1.7x1019Bq of xenon-133, greater than the estimated total radioactive release of 1.4x1019 Bq from Chernobyl. The fact that three reactors exploded in the Fukushima accident accounts for the huge xenon tally, says De Geer. The new model shows that Fukushima released 3.5x1016Bq caesium-137, roughly twice the official government figure, and half the release from Chernobyl. However, ongoing ground surveys are the only way to truly establish the public-health risk.

Stohl believes that the discrepancy between the team’s results and those of the Japanese government can be partly explained by the larger data set used. Japanese estimates rely primarily on data from monitoring posts inside Japan, which never recorded the large quantities of radioactivity that blew out over the Pacific Ocean, and eventually reached North America and Europe. “Taking account of

Fukushima Update


the radiation that has drifted out to the Pacific is essential for getting a real picture of the size and character of the accident,” says Tomoya Yamauchi, a radiation physicist at Kobe University who has been measuring radioisotope contamination in soil around Fukushima.

The differences between the two studies may seem large, notes Yukio Hayakawa, a volcanologist at Gunma University who has also modeled the accident, but uncertainties in the models mean that the estimates are actually quite similar. The new analysis also says spent fuel stored in the unit 4 pool emitted copious quantities of caesium-137 while Japanese officials have said that virtually no radioactivity leaked from the pool. However, Stohl’s model clearly shows that dousing the pool with water caused the plant’s caesium-137 emis-sions to drop markedly. The finding implies that much of the fallout could have been prevented by flooding the pool earlier.

The Japanese authorities continue to maintain that the spent fuel was not a significant source of contamination, because the pool itself did not seem to suffer major damage. “I think the release from unit 4 is not important,” says Masamichi Chino, a scientist with the Japanese Atomic Energy Authority in Ibaraki, who helped to develop the Japanese official estimate. But De Geer says the new analysis “looks convincing”.

The analysis also presents evidence that xenon-133 began to vent from Fukushima Daiichi immediately after the quake, and before the tsunami swamped the area. This implies that the earthquake alone was sufficient to cause damage at the plant.

The model also shows that the accident could easily have had a much more devastating impact on the people of Tokyo. In the first days after the accident the wind was blowing out to sea, but on the afternoon of 14 March it turned inshore, bringing clouds of radioac-tive caesium-137 over a significant area. Where precipitation fell, along the central mountain ranges and to the northwest of the plant, higher levels of radioactivity were later recorded in the soil but luck-ily Tokyo, and other densely populated areas had dry weather. “There was a period when quite a high concentration went over Tokyo, but it didn’t rain,” says Stohl. “It could have been much worse.”

Marine contamination higher than assumedA reassessment of marine contamination caused by the Fukushima points to a higher level of radioactive substances in the ocean than previously assumed, according to the French Institute of Radiologi-cal Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). The main origin of the contamination was the direct discharge of contaminated water from the plant which lasted until around 8 April 2011, almost a month after the accident. To a lesser extent, contamination of the ocean resulted from radionuclides released into the atmosphere from the plant between 12 March and 22 March, IRSN said.

In the immediate vicinity of the plant, the concentration in seawa-ter at the end of March and the beginning of April was up to “several ten thousands” of becquerels per litre (Bq/l) for caesium-134 and -137, and exceeded 100,000 Bq/l for iodine-131. Levels of Iodine-131 have declined rapidly because of its short half-life of eight days. Concentrations of caesium-134 and -137 have been decreasing since mid-July and have now fallen below the detection limit (five Bq/l) of the techniques used for monitoring.

IRSN said has updated its estimate of the total amount of cae-sium-137 released directly into the sea near Fukushima between 21 March and mid-July to 27 petabecquerel (PBq or quadrillion Bq), most of which (82%) was discharged before 8 April. The institute said this radioactive discharge at sea represents the “largest one-time

contribution of artificial radionuclides to the marine environment ever observed”. The results showed the need for continued monitor-ing of marine life species from the Fukushima region.

IRSN emphasised in its report that the location of the Fuku-shima-Daiichi plant meant most contamination was dispersed and is expected to be of such low concentrations that from the autumn of 2011 it will be of little threat to pelagic species.However, surface waters from the Fukushima region might still carry radioactive substances into the sea and this will also need continued monitoring.

Radiation hotspotA radiation hotspot in Kashiwa had still not been decontaminated a week after radiation of 57.5 microsieverts (mSv) per hour was recorded on a city-owned plot of land. The city says the level of radia-tion is beyond anything a local government can handle on its own, although it decided to conduct surveys to find other hotspots after many residents expressed concern.

The Kashiwa municipal government said radiation of 57.5mSv/hr had been detected about 30cm below the surface of the land. Subse-quent examination of soil at the location detected radioactive cae-sium of up to 276,000 becquerels per kilogram. Airborne radiation of 2mSv/he was recorded a metre above the ground.

The land affected used to be the site of a city-run housing complex now used for recreational activities. It comprises a field, a paved pedestrian walkway and a street gutter that is 30cm wide and 30cm deep. The high level of radiation was detected in the soil near an L-shaped corner in the gutter, of which a nearby 50cm-long section was found to be damaged.

Takao Nakaya, head of the ministry’s Office of Radiation Regu-lations, said it was highly possible the high level of radiation was caused by water containing radioactive cesium seeping into the soil over a long period. It will be no surprise if similar levels of radiation are detected in other places,” said Tsutomu Tohei, Professor Emeri-tus at Tohoku University.

If radioactive cesium adheres to the surface of soil or a leaf, it tends to remain there, Tohei said. However, rainwater may bring caesium that was previously scattered over various places to a particular spot, such as a gutter. If it accumulates for a long time, the radiation level would increase.

The Kashiwa municipal government has decided to examine all other plots of land owned by the city and will implement similar measures for private properties in November by examining premises or lending residents measuring devices. The municipality has started discussions with the Environmental Ministry and Cabinet Office, asking central government to take responsibility for determining the cause of the hotspot and the exact amount of contaminated soil, as well as for decontaminating the location. Japan’s Science Ministry has launched a telephone hotline to deal with public concerns about radiation exposure in areas outside Fukushima prefecture.

Decontamination methods consideredJAPAN IS SETTING aside $14bn to clean up after the Fukushima ac-cident. Fukushima prefecture has already received 143 preliminary proposals, mostly to decontaminate radiated soil and water, from

Fukushima Update


companies, universities, non-profit organisations and individuals, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg from the prefectural government.

The Environment Ministry will budget more than JPY1,100bn ($14bn) for decontamination by the end of the next fiscal year, says Goshi Hosono, minister in charge of the response to the nuclear crisis.

Estimating costs is difficult and the government intends to use test projects, according to Tadashi Inoue at the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry who is advising the Fukushima government. “The cost will be enormous.”

IAEA offers adviceA 12-member team was assembled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the request of the Japanese government to help develop remediation strategies. The mission has advised the govern-ment to avoid “over-conservatism” in its efforts to remediate large areas of contaminated land around the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The team reviewed remediation-related strategies, plans and works, including contamination mapping, currently undertaken by Japanese authorities. It focused on the remediation of affected areas outside of the 20km restricted area.

The team said that it agrees with the prioritisation and the general strategy being implemented, and suggests that further missions could be sent to confirm the progress being made and to address the remediation challenges actually within the zone.

The expert team said that Japan’s approach of using demonstration sites to assess various remediation methods “is a very helpful way to support the decision-making process.”

However, Japanese authorities were encouraged to “cautiously balance the different factors that influence the net benefit of the remediation measures to ensure dose reduction.” They should “avoid over-conservatism” which “could not effectively contribute to the reduction of exposure doses.”

Classifying waste The major strategy being considered by Japanese authorities for decon-taminating affected areas is the removal of up to 5cm of top soil. How-ever, the mission team notes that, although this would significantly reduce radionuclide concentrations in the upper layer of soils, it would generate “unnecessarily huge amounts of residual materials”.

The preliminary estimate of the volume of contaminated material that could come from clean-up is 5-29m m3. This is in addition to some 2.3mt of contaminated debris that has already been collected. The mission’s preliminary report noted that it is “important to avoid clas-sifying as ‘radioactive waste’ such waste materials that do not cause exposures that would warrant special radiation protection measures.”

The team suggests that authorities establish “realistic and credible limits” regarding associated exposures. Slightly contaminated mate-rial, it says, could be used in various ways, such as the construction of reclamations, banks and roads.

The team also warned the Japanese government of the “potential risk of misunderstandings that could arise if the population is only or mainly concerned with contamination concentrations rather than dose levels.”

It added: “The investment of time and effort in removing con-tamination concentrations from everywhere, such as all forest areas and areas where the additional exposure is relatively low, does not automatically lead to reduction of doses for the public.”

The team’s report calls on the Japanese authorities to “maintain their focus on remediation activities that bring best results in reduc-ing the doses to the public.” The final report of the mission will be submitted to the Japanese government by 15 November.

Dealing with waste materialCONTAMINATED MATERIAL FROM the Fukushima nuclear plant will be collected over 30 years and stored at a secure site at a cost of JPY1,100bn ($14bn), according to the Environment Ministry’s road map on decontamination.

Officials will select a site in Fukushima prefecture to build con-crete-walled pits to contain contaminated soil and other waste by the end of March 2013. The focus will be on maintaining a centrally managed storage facility that will be safe and secure,” the Ministry said in a document outlining the plan.

Certain areas around the plant, which continues to emit radiation, may be uninhabitable for at least two decades, according to a govern-ment estimate in August. The Ministry plans to begin decontamina-tion efforts once a recently passed cleanup law takes effect in January.

Ministry officials will begin working to acquire areas where con-taminated waste can be held for a three-year period before it can be transported to the storage site

Companies seeking to win decontamination contracts in Fukushi-ma include, Sumitomo Corp, IHI Corp and Obayashi Corp, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News from the prefectural govern-ment in October. The temporary sites and permanent storage site will be selected in consultation with residents of the affected areas.

Goshi Hosono, Japan’s nuclear crisis minister, says Japan does not yet have a comprehensive plan for disposing of the massive quanti-ties of radioactive waste that have been accumulating.

He said there is no “full picture” of how to deal with the waste from the disaster and subsequent clean up. Possibly years of research and development on waste management may be needed.

He pointed to the need to compress the huge volume of waste, since the amount is too massive to move from the site. The Ministry has estimated that waste volumes could total 45m m3 in Fukushima and neighbouring prefectures.

Government no longer promotes nuclearJAPAN’S GOVERNMENT HAS abandoned its policy of promoting nuclear power, reducing dependence on the sector in its first annual review of energy since the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

An energy white paper, approved by the Cabinet in October, calls for a reduction in the nation’s reliance on atomic power. It also omits a section on nuclear power expansion that was in last year’s policy review. The government delayed the publication of the white paper, usually issued in May or June, because of Fukushima.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is planning to reduce the depen-dence on nuclear energy while also seeking to restart idled nuclear reactors once their safety is secured and local governments approve.

Fukushima Update

1� | McCloskey Nuclear Business November 2011 ©IHS Global Limited mccloskeycoal.com

Japan was the third-most reliant country on nuclear power after the US and France, but now has only 10 of its 54 reactors operating, either because they were shut down by the quake and tsunami or because of scheduled maintenance.

None has been restarted since the accident because of safety concerns. However, in early November, Hideo Kishimoto, the mayor of Genkai, Saga prefecture effectively approved Kyushu Electric Power Co’s plan to restart a nuclear reactor halted due to human error.

The reactor shut down automatically on 4 October due to an ab-normality in its steam condenser after repairs were carried out based on a faulty manual.

Industry Minister Yukio Edano said the government would leave it up to Kyushu Electric to decide whether to restart the reactor while encouraging the utility to consult local residents before mak-ing a final decision.

The white paper makes no mention of plans to separate the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. NISA’s lack of independence hampered a quick response to the disaster, the government said in a report to the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency in June.

A government panel confirmed in September that NISA had been involved in attempts by utilities to influence public opinion in favor of nuclear energy, further damaging public confidence in the indus-try. The government is aiming to form a new nuclear agency under the Environment Ministry by April through merging NISA and the Nuclear Safety Commission.

bailing out TepcoTOKYO ELECTRIC POwER Co (Tepco) has effectively been taken under state control in exchange for JPY890bn ($11.4bn) in government aid.

Tepco’s emergency action plan, a precondition for the taxpayer-funded money, was approved by the government. Tepco has prom-ised to pursue drastic cost-cutting under government supervision.

Additional aid is conditional on a more comprehensive plan that includes bolder restructuring measures, due next spring. Tepco reported a JPY627.2bn consolidated net loss for April-September.

The action plan calls for regular meetings of a reform committee consisting of Nishizawa, Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata and the top two officials at the government-backed organisation supporting Tepco as it compensates disaster victims. Staffers from the organisation will work full time at company headquarters.

Tepco reported JPY1 first-half extraordinary losses resulting partly from compensation payments. These were partly offset by the government aid, which goes on Tepco’s books as extraordinary profit.

“I hope you understand that the public is entrusting Tepco with a huge amount of their money,” Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano told Tepco President Toshio Nishizawa. The latter only nodded.

Tepco’s core business is suffering from the after effects of the disaster, and without additional financial aid, it is heading for a cash crisis. The full costs of compensating victims and decommissioning the broken reactors is as yet unknown.

Tepco has about six months to complete the comprehensive plan needed to qualify for more government assistance. Under discus-sion are a taxpayer-funded recapitalisation and a proposal to spin

off Tepco’s nuclear power business. Nishizawa says Tepco “hopes to remain a private-sector company”.

Fukushima update - briefsDOSE RATES: Japan’s government has lowered the maximum allow-able exposure for workers at Fukushima after radiation levels fell. The limit for new workers at the Fukushima plant was lowered to 100mSv from 250mSv, according to an ordinance by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Staff assigned to some tasks and those who have already worked at the site are exempt from the revised limit. Some 3,500 staff are working every day to contain the crisis at the plant. The International Commission on Radiological Protec-tion recommends a maximum dose of 500mSv in a nuclear accident except during rescue operations.

ExCLUSION zONE: The Secretariat of the Nuclear Safety Commis-sion of Japan has proposed expanding the zone where intensive disaster countermeasures must be taken to 30km around a nuclear power plant from the current 8-10km in the event of a future nuclear accident. It also proposed designating a 5km radius around a nuclear plant in its guidelines as a zone from which people should immediately be evacuated following a plant accident. It sought the establishment of a 50km perimeter around a disaster-struck plant within which preparations would be made for distributing potas-sium iodide tablets to mitigate the impact of exposure to radiation. The government also designated some vicinities of the no-go zone as so-called emergency evacuation preparation zones, prompting many of those residing in such areas to evacuate.

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EDF opposes Constellation -Exelon mergerFRENCH-bASED ELECTRICITE DE France (EDF), which owns 49.99% of Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG) with Constellation Energy owning the remaining 50.01%, has asked the Maryland Public Service Commission to reject a merger between Constellation and Exelon, which hopes to complete its $7.9bn acquisition of Constellation in early 2012.

In testimony filed with the commission in mid October, EDF said CENG would lose autonomy if Exelon assumes Constellation’s share. EDF also argued that the market share and control over electricity prices on the US East Coast could prompt regulators to reject any bids from the joint company for any new nuclear power plants (NPPs) on the East Coast.

EDF continues to support a proposed third unit at Constellation’s Calvert Cliffs NPP in Maryland.

As well as approval from Maryland, the Federal Energy Regula-tory Commission, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the New York State Public Service Commission (Constellation has a second NPP in New York state) also must approve the merger.

Exelon, the largest US nuclear operator, is moving its nuclear division headquarters from Chicago to the east coast. It plans to move the division and some 100 jobs to suburban Philadel-phia, Pennsylvania by the end of 2013. However, it will keep the

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company’s headquarters, its business services unit and the Midwest nuclear operations in the Chicago area.

Fluor takes majority stake in NuScaleUS-bASED FLUOR CORPORATION announced in mid October that it was investing more than $30m in NuScale Power, an Oregon-based com-pany that is commercialising small modular reactor (SMR) technology.

Fluor purchased shares in NuScale, which hopes to bring its modu-lar, scalable light water reactor concept to the market, possibly as early as 2020. Fluor group executive for corporate development and new ventures, John Hopkins, said that Fluor’s history of accomplish-ment in the nuclear industry, combined with NuScale’s “innovative and safe nuclear technology” would provide customers with a very competitive option.

As part of its investment, Fluor purchased NuScale shares that had previously been held in US Securities and Exchange Commission receivership, and has become NuScale’s majority shareholder. Going forward, NuScale will continue to operate as an independent company.

Fluor and NuScale also have entered into a separate contractual arrangement whereby Fluor will provide certain services to NuScale and will have exclusive rights to provide engineering and construc-tion services for future NuScale SMR facilities.

Oregon State University developed the initial concept for NuS-cale’s SMR technology from 2000 to 2003, with funding provided by the US Department of Energy. Bill Fehrman, president and CEO of Des Moines, Iowa-based MidAmerican Energy Company said the agreement between Fluor and NuScale was a strong signal that SMR technology would be a viable alternative for the next generation of nuclear energy deployment. MidAmerican is one of 11 major US and Canadian utilities that serve on NuScale’s customer advisory board.

NuScale is developing a 45MWe self-contained pressurised water reactor and generator set, which will be factory made and shipped for deployment in sets of up to 12. These could result in scalable nuclear power plants with capacities ranging from 45MWe to 540MWe. The reactor units will use conventional nuclear fuel assemblies with 5% uranium-235. Fuel assemblies would be replaced every two years.

Fluor’s investment effectively rescued NuScale after the company was paralysed by a fraud case concerning a shareholder. Francesco Illarramendi, head of the Michael Kenwood Group of hedge funds, was found guilty of routing investors’ money through accounts he controlled for personal gain, which came to SEC’s attention and resulted in his conviction this February. Illarramendi had to pay back $53m of his “ill-gotten gains,” with significant knock-on effects for NuScale’s balance sheet.

Cost recovery approved for two US utilitiesTHE FLORIDA PUbLIC Service Commission (PSC) has agreed to al-low Florida Power & Light (FPL) and Progress Energy to recover from ratepayers costs for planned construction of new reactors and uprates of existing reactors. The utilities will be able to collect more

than $280m from customers in 2012. PSC approved Progress’ recovery of $85.9m in costs, including

costs associated with the uprate of its existing Crystal River nuclear power plant (NPP) and construction of its proposed two-unit Levy NPP. PSC said the projects would add 2380MWe of new nuclear base load generation. Levy-1 and -2, both Westinghouse AP1000 reactors are set to start operation in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

PSC approved FPL’s recovery of $196.1m in costs, including those associated with the uprates of four existing reactors (Turkey Point-3 and -4, and St Lucie-1 and -2) and construction of its proposed Turkey Point-6 and -7. These projects will add 2,614MWe of new nuclear base load generation, PSC said.

The new Turkey Point units, with a combined capacity of between 2200MWe and 3000MWe, are scheduled to begin operating in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The Florida legislature in 2006 enacted legis-lation to encourage nuclear power development by allowing utilities to recover costs for some NPP project costs during the construction process, rather than after the plants begin operating.

Energy Fuels and Titan seek mergerUS-bASED ENERGY FUELS and Canada’s Titan Uranium signed a letter of intent to pursue a merger under which Energy Fuels would acquire all the outstanding shares of Titan.

A joint statement said the companies believe the transaction will provide significant benefits to their shareholders. These include in-creased scale and market presence in the uranium sector; substantial NI 43-101 compliant resource (37m lbsU3O8); measured and indi-cated resource of 4.3m lbs U3O8; an enhanced near-term production profile; a focus on US production with low political risk; creation of a strong platform for continued uranium consolidation within the US; greater financial strength; and the combined management experi-ence and expertise of both companies.

Energy Fuels’ Pinon Ridge uranium/vanadium mill, 19.2km west of Naturita in the Paradox Valley of western Colorado was granted its final radioactive materials licence in March, making it the first US uranium mill to be licenced in more than 30 years. Energy Fuels also has uranium properties in western Colorado, eastern Utah, and northern Arizona. It has two fully permitted mines, the Whirlwind and Energy Queen Mines and has initiated permitting on two addi-tional mines, the Calliham and the Sage, both in southeast Utah.

Titan’s major asset is a 100% interest in the Sheep Mountain ura-nium mine in the Crooks Gap Mining District of Fremont County, Wyoming. Sheep Mountain currently is at an advanced stage of permitting, production expected to begin in 2014. Production is expected to peak at 1.5m lbs/year of U3O8. Titan also has signifi-cant interests in uranium exploration projects in Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and Saskatchewan.

New mining leaseIn October Energy Fuels bought a 20-year mining lease (the Skidmore Lease) in southeast Utah’s Sage Plain district from privately held Nu-clear Energy Corporation for $1,500,702. Energy Fuels said that, with the purchase it would begin permitting a uranium/vanadium mine in the Uravan Mineral Belt with Utah’s Department of Oil, Gas, and Min-

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erals. The new mine could become the third mine permitted to feed the proposed Pinon Ridge mill. It would supplement future production from the already permitted Whirlwind Mine near Gateway, Colorado, and the Energy Queen Mine near La Sal, Utah.

The Skidmore Lease is located on approximately 709 acres in San Juan county, Utah, and includes large portions of the historic Cal-liham Mine. It is adjacent to the Calliham and Crain lease, the Sage Properties, and other mining claims already owned or controlled by Energy Fuels through Colorado Plateau Partners (CPP), a 50/50 joint venture of Energy Fuels and Lynx-Royal JV.

Energy Fuels has said it will assign the Skidmore Lease to CPP, in exchange for Lynx-Royal paying $250,000 to Energy Fuels, reducing Energy Fuels’ current net expenditure on the Skidmore property to $250,000. In addition, the CPP joint venture will assume 100% of future monetary obligations for the purchase.

As the contractual operator of any mines developed by CPP, Ener-gy Fuels will receive all production from this property as feed for the Pinon Ridge mill. The Skidmore Lease currently contains 184,000t of historic uranium and vanadium resources at grades of 0.20% U3O8 (729,000 lbs.) and 1.11% V2O5 (4,072,400 lbs.).

US joint venture for tails managementUS URANIUM CONVERSION company ConverDyn and enrichment company Urenco USA have formed a partnership that aims to provide services to help manage the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) stocks of depleted uranium. The Competitive American Tails Up-grade Partnership (CATUP) will be able to respond to potential DOE interest in upgrading and managing depleted uranium stocks, also known as uranium tails.

Uranium tails can be used for down-blending former weapons grade highly enriched uranium for commercial nuclear fuel; blending with plutonium to make mixed oxide (mox) fuel for commercial reactors; or for uses exploiting its very high density, such as military projectiles. In a statement, the CATUP partners said DOE might be interested in pursing a long-term commercial upgrade programme as part of its ura-nium inventory management policy. In 2005, DOE conducted a pilot programme in which more than 8,000t of tails were treated.

CATUP plans is to use the two companies’ existing US conver-sion and enrichment facilities, in combination with inventories of natural uranium concentrates, to recover usable material from DoE’s depleted uranium while reducing the volume of tails that ultimately will require disposal. The partnership envisages converting natural uranium concentrates into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) at Conver-Dyn’s Metropolis works in Illinois, and then exchanging them for depleted uranium from DOE.

CATUP will sample, clean and repackage DOE’s depleted ura-nium for upgrading at Urenco USA’s centrifuge enrichment plant in New Mexico. The joint statement said the approach would help to protect US uranium miners from “unpredictable and excessive DOE inventory sales,” as well as creating local jobs and stimulating capital investment in nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure. DOE’s old gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment operations gave rise to nearly 700,000t of uranium tails over more than 50 years of operation.

Rio Tinto outbids Cameco for HathorRIO TINTO GROUP, one of the world’s biggest miners, will accelerate exploration and assessment of Hathor Exploration Ltd’s Northern Saskatchewan uranium properties to unlock their full potential. Rio has offered a friendly $4.15 a share for Hathor, which holds a high-grade uranium property in Saskatchewan’s Athabaska Basin uranium belt. This values Hathor at about $578m and trumps an earlier hos-tile bid from Cameco Corp, Canada’s leading uranium producer with mines in the same area.

Rio Energy CEO Doug Ritchie said Rio’s exploration and extraction technologies and its commitment to sustainable development, “will build on the strong technical foundation established by Hathor”. Cam-eco’s offer of $3.75 per Hathor share expires November 14. The company has not commented on Rio’s counter-offer, except to say its directors are studying it and would issue an update later. Hathor holders who have tendered under the Cameco offer can withdraw those shares any time before November 14 and tender to Rio’s offer by November 30.

Some experts consider Hathor’s Roughrider deposit in north-ern Saskatchewan to be one of the richest undeveloped uranium deposits in the world. Roughrider lies in the Athabasca Basin, which currently provides 20% of world uranium production. Roughrider is a moderate sized deposit, at 26,000t, but the grade is exceptionally high at 11% uranium oxide. A preliminary economic assessment of Roughrider indicated that it had a net present value of $1bn. But that was based on only part of the known resource, with Hathor’s drilling pointing to resource upgrades over time.

Liberalising ownership rulesCanada’s ruling Conservative government has indicated that it in-tends to liberalise ownership rules governing uranium purchases by foreign companies. The offer from British-Australian Rio Tinto could be a test of the government’s intent, analysts say. In August when Cameco announced its hostile bid for Hathor, some observers said a white knight was unlikely to emerge because of the federal uranium-ownership rules.

Natural Resources Canada says on its website that foreign ownership of producing uranium-mining properties is capped at 49%. Even though Hathor is years away from production, critics had predicted the owner-ship limits would discourage foreign investment. The Ministry has said higher ownership levels are possible if it can be clearly established that the project is Canadian-controlled, as defined in the Investment Canada Act. Exemptions also are possible, subject to cabinet approval.

A joint offer seen as possibleFor Cameco to come back with a higher offer, it also would have to cover the $20m break fee Rio secured with Hathor. Rio’s agreed bid for Hathor does not have to pass Canada’s “net-benefit” test for foreign investment because the book value of Hathor’s assets falls below the trigger point.

Last year, the net-benefit test led BHP Billiton’s $40bn bid for Pot-ash Corp to unravel. Some analysts have speculated that ultimately Rio Tinto and Cameco could team up on a joint offer. They have point-ed out that Rio Tinto did not try to blow Cameco out of the water with a extremely high bid, but only upped Cameco’s offer by $0.40/share.

The market is gearing up for a higher future bid, pushing Hathor

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stock up 10% in Toronto to $4.40 on the day the Rio Tinto deal was announced, a 6% premium to the offer. One of those betting on a higher offer was New York-based First Eagle Investment Manage-ment, which bought 1.9m shares in Hathor for roughly $8.3m. This brought First Eagle’s stake in the company to 5.65%, and put it on par with the Rio Tinto’s current 5.7% ownership.

AREVA sales downFRENCH NUCLEAR COMPANY AREVA said third-quarter (Q3) sales were down 2.9% because of disruptions in its used fuel recycling business.

Revenues fell to €1.95bn ($2.77bn) from €2.01bn in Q3 2010. A company statement said incidents in the first half of the year at the La Hague and Melox production lines had been resolved and production re-started in September. The temporary shutdowns offset higher revenue from uranium sales, reactor constructions and maintenance services.

AREVA CEO, Luc Oursel, said he would outline the company’s strat-egy in mid December, given the slowdown in demand for reactors, fuel and services following Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Oursel has said the company may cut jobs, delay investments and sell assets to shore up finances. Standard and Poor’s has threatened to lower AREVA’s BBB+ credit rating. Cancellation of orders since Fukushima have amounted to €301m as of the end of September, an AREVA statement said.

AREVA’s order book fell to €42.7bn at the end of September from €43.1bn at the end of June, AREVA said. The backlog does not include an Electricite de France (EDF) order for 32 steam generators, worth about €1.1bn, which will be booked in Q4 2011. It also excludes an order for the completion of a NPP in the US state of Alabama.

Russia to improve procurement transparencyRUSSIAN STATE NUCLEAR corporation Rosatom has to improve the le-gal regulatory basis of its procurement system, said Yelena Panfilova, director of the Centre for Anti-Corruption Research and Initiative at Transparency International – Russia.

She was attending a joint session of the Public Council and Rosatom’s Activity Transparency Enhancement Board. Transpar-ency International – Russia undertakes monitoring and analysis of Rosatom’s procurement activities to assess corruption risks.

Panfilova noted significant changes in Rosatom’s anti-corruption activities. During the first round of monitoring of corruption risks in late 2009 and 2010, information transparency was minimal, she said, but the situation started to change towards the end of 2010.

Many violations, both “of greater and less significance” were iden-tified. “Now, the situation has noticeably improved: transparency has increased sharply and standards have changed qualitatively,” Panfilova continued, adding that this, however, did not mean that the ideal situation had been reached.

“It’s still rather far from ideal, but at the same time, Rosatom is tuned to dialogue and an attempt to rectify deficiencies,” she said. She agreed that anticorruption activity could impct on Rosatom’s reputation, but inaction would lead to more negative consequences.

Based on the monitoring results, the centre recommended Ro-

satom to continue working to uncover violations, improve procure-ment standards and train procurement specialists.

Violations draw corruption charges In future, representatives of law enforcement agencies will be included in bidding commissions appointed to select suppliers for the nuclear industry, Rosatom Director General Sergei Kirienko told the meeting.

“The topic of corruption is disturbing but inevitable,” he noted. However, Rosatom has decided to carry out its anticorruption activ-ity “in a maximally open and transparent manner”, he added.

“We will not stop at dismissals for violations; we will hand over evidence for criminal charges to be laid.”

Since the beginning of the year, 48 heads of enterprises within the Rosatom system have been called to account in different ways. Of these, 12 have been dismissed and 12 packages of documents have been submitted to law enforcement agencies to initiate charges. He accepted that publicising such activity could damage Rosatom’s reputation.

At the same time, tighter control over procurement has economic benefits. In the first half of 2011 nuclear utility Rosenergoatom saved RUB6.2bn ($200m) through improved procurement, or 9% of total purchases.

The procurement plan over six months was 90% fulfilled and the procurement transparency index exceeded 80% on average for Rosenergoatom and operating nuclear power plants (NPPs). The introduction of the Uniform Industry-wide Procurement Standard and open tendering led to decreasing contract prices for process equipment for NPPs.

For instance, in 2008 a cost of housing for Leningrad NPP was about RUB203,000 per item, but in 2011 this fell to RUB119,000 per item.

During a bidding process for design and installation of turbine con-denser piping at Kalinin NPP, the cost of the contract was brought down from RUB1.375bn to RUB900m as a result of competition between suppliers.

According to Anatoly Baitov, Director of the department for procurement management at Rosenergoatom, in 2012 the utility will hold bidding processes for items worth RUB120bn. Almost all the tenders will be open and bidders will be given the opportunity to prepare their offers in advance.

Eyeing the international marketCurrently, the share of equipment produced for Rosatom by Russian machine engineering enterprises amounts to over 96% , Alexey Dub, Director General of the Central Research Institute of Machine Engineering Technology (TsNIITMASH) told the first international forum “Russian & CIS Machine Building & Engineering.”

He said this showed that domestic enterprises are able to produce “high quality equipment” which is “quite competitive in the interna-tional market.”

Provided a customer is competent and can clearly formulate its technical requirements at the start, domestic enterprises are quite capable of producing good quality equipment on time at the agreed price,” Dub noted.

He said that at present Russian producers held only about 2% of the world market for power engineering equipment. However, the aim is to increase the share held by Russian enterprises, including joint ventures set up in Russia, to 9% by 2015.

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Russia restructures nuclear fuel industryIN �01� LAbOUR efficiency at Russia’s nuclear industry enterprises is expected to increase by 23.9%, and in 2013 by a further 14.7%.

This forecast was given by Mikhail Goland, deputy head of the in-novative development division with the strategic management and budgeting department of the Ministry of Economic Development.

Efficiency overall in the nuclear industry is improving through the introduction by state nuclear corporation Rosatom of two new sys-tems – the New Image Programme (NIP) and the Rosatom Produc-tion System (RPS).

Restructuring TVELThe effects have been most evident within Fuel Company TVEL. The aim of NIP is to remove non-related assets from FC TVEL enterprises. As a result, the Electrochemical Combine (ECP) in Krasnoyarsk should become the most efficient enrichment plant in the world, ac-cording to FC TVEL President Yuri Olenin.

Results for the first nine months of 2011 were acknowledged as sat-isfactory. Olenin says investments in development of ECP up to 2020 will amount to about RUB60-70bn ($1.9-2.2bn) to increase production capacities by 1.6-2 times and substantially reduce the cost of products.

“The restructuring of FC TVEL’s enterprises has made ECP an in-dustry leader due by increasing labour efficiency, reducing cost, and modernising production,” he adds.

Olenin said FC TVEL’s near-term plans included conversion to other products for some enterprises and consolidation of nuclear pro-duction. In particular, an enrichment centre is to be set up at ECP, a centrifuge technology development centre at Urals Electrochemi-cal Combine (UECC) in Novouralsk, and a conversion centre at the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC).

Other enterprises will also be made to specialise, including those making industrial products. FC TVEL “has practically” completed the programme for restructuring UECC, according to Rosatom Di-rector General Sergei Kirienko. The restructuring is part of the New Image programme (see Business). The process would be completed next year, he added.

According to Kiriyenko, at UECC the last facility to be removed is the conversion plant. “All decisions on this issue have been already taken, he adds. Under the restructuring programme, those entities removed from UECC will form an association in Novouralsk which will continue to receive support from the combine for some time.

In addition, a mechanism is being developed to guarantee orders for these enterprises. Kirienko says “two decisions of principle” have been made. First, contracts with the combine will be signed for 3-5 years instead of one year.

Second, during the first year the enterprise will be guaranteed 75% of the order for its products and just 25% will be subject to a bidding process where the enterprise can also participate. Later the guaran-teed order share will be gradually reduced.

Economic benefits of NIPThe cumulative economic benefit of introducing the NIP at FC TVEL enterprises was more than RUB4.5bn ($146m) over the last year and eight months of this year. On 18 October FC TVEL said it had completed the basic stage of restructuring of its enterprises using

NIP which is aimed at increasing labour efficiency, reducing costs and raising wages.

Non-related and auxiliary structural divisions have been separated from the enterprises as affiliated companies, while some services were outsourced. As a result, labour efficiency at different enter-prises increased from 15% to 50%, with an estimated average for this year of 27.8%. The average wage for this year is planned to reach RUB43,500, up 27.9% on last year and up 38% on 2008.

Gross tax payments to local and federal budgets in 2010 were RUB24.5bn and are expected to increase substantially this year. In 2010, RUB27.2bn was spent on production development.

This year, FC TVEL plans to invest about RUB39bn to modernise production capacities at its enterprises and develop their scien-tific potential through the introduction of new high technology production systems.

By 2013 the implementation of a number of projects (nano-coat-ings, nano-wires, cathode materials, nano-catalysts etc.) at FC TVEL enterprises should result in 2,000 new jobs increasing to 3,000 new jobs by 2015.

Positive results of RPSFC TVEL enterprises are also continuing to deploy the RPS which is expected to produce a cumulative economic benefit of RUB800.3m this year. The economic benefit of introducing the RPS at the Kovrov Mechanical Plant (KMP) is put at RUB760,115 over the first half of 2011 and it should approach RUB2.66m by the end of the year.

KMP specialises in the manufacture of gas centrifuge machines and is part of FC TVEL. Using the RPS, the stock-in-process fell by 95% against kick-off indicators. If current stocks are taken as 100%, by the end of 2011 the reduction should be 20% more.

The number of equipment items decreased to 109 from 185. Oc-cupied space has been reduced from 3,367m2 to 1,805m2 and by the end of 2011 the pilot section will occupy just 1,755m2.

According to KMP Director General Yuri Mamin, the RPS system is being introduced throughout the plant. Inline with FC TVEL’s consolidation plans, from 2012 gas centrifuge production, which is now at two enterprises – Tochmash and KMP, will be centred at KMP. In the first half of 2011, a share of proceeds from gas centri-fuge production at KMP was 96.4% or RUB1.148bn of the total.

Rosatom head Kirienko says the volume of orders to be placed with UECC will grow to RUB38bn ($1.3bn) over several years from RUB24bn today as a result of the RPS.

A number of production processes will be transferred to No-vouralsk as part of the restructuring of FC TVEL. The 2010 UECC annual report showed net profit grew by 4.3% to RUB3.47bn. Gross profit was RUB10.13bn.

UECC’s proceeds from the sale of goods, products, works and ser-vices in 2010 grew by 23% to RUB21.18bn, RUB3.6bn above the 2010 target. In addition, the average wage of the combine’s employees increased to RUB36,113, 20% above 2009, the report said.

TVEL plans rapid growthRUSSIAN FUEL COMPANY TVEL plans to increase its proceeds to $11-12bn by 2030, the company said in mid October. Financial results for 2010, drawn up in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS), showed proceeds amounting to RUB98.8bn ($3.2bn)

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up on 2009 (RUB70.6bn) by nearly 40%. Most of the proceeds arose from sales of nuclear fuel. Net profit

was RUB13.3bn, down 2.6% on 2009 (RUB13.7bn). The reduced profit was attributed to an increase in feed consumption, wages and wear due to the corporate expansion of FC TVEL.

The company increased its spending for research by 33% (from RUB917.1m in 2009 to RUB1.2bn in 2010). The company also notes that in 2010 it became responsible for enterprises of the conversion and enrichment, gas centrifuge and research complexes.

TVEL First Vice President Vladimir Rozhdestvensky said overall proceeds of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, of which FC TVEL is part, amount to $15bn, and by 2030 may reach $60bn.

He added that the nuclear energy business alone could not support the planned growth. Therefore, it would be necessary for TVEL to be-come a global company and actively develop other production sectors.

One way to achieve this goal would be to set up specialised cen-tres such as the planned metallurgical centre at Chepetsky Metal-lurgical Plant (CMP) and a mechanotronics centre at Tochmash. By 2030 FC TVEL’s proceeds from sales of non-nuclear products should increase to $2bn.

TVEL reported that investments in development of the metallurgy centre at CMP will be more than RUB3bn ($93.7m) by 2012-2016. The centre will merge all of TVEL’s metallurgy-related operations.

TVEL said the centre was needed to stay competitive in the nuclear market and ensure orders in line with the growth targets in TVEL’s long-term development programme, planned re-con-figuration of production, and the need to retain personnel and production capacities.

The centre also will have the capacity to support metallurgical production outside the nuclear industry. TVEL’s “Development of Industry-wide Metallurgy Centre” concept paper provides for a jobs growth by 40% in 2012-2016. The centre’s production over this period is expected to increase from 3,160t to nearly 5,000t and proceeds will exceed RUB4bn by 2016.

The TVEL metallurgical centre will produce rolled titanium items, calcium, tomograph wires, nanowires, rare-earth elements, zirco-nium dioxide-based industrial ceramics, stainless steel tubes, and components for foreign companies, including GNF, GE and AECL.

The development framework for rare earth metal production calls for establishing sections to produce granules, nanopowders and powders for plasma spray coating, R&D and upgrading of the pilot installation.

Commissioning of Russia’s floating plant delayedCOMMISSIONING OF THE pilot floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) being built at the Baltijskiy Zavod (BZ) shipyard will be delayed for 1.5 years, until early 2014, according to Roman Trotsenko, Presi-dent of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC or Obedinennaya Sudostroitelnaya Korporatsiya) in St Petersburg.

This followed an announcement that the shipyard was being trans-ferred to USC management. The FNPP was the largest order BZ had ever received but the work was not completed and was suspended because bank accounts were blocked by shipyard owner USC. The FNPP was scheduled to be release to the customer, nuclear utility

Rosenergoatom (REA), in 2012.Trotsenko said the FNPP contract was unprofitable from the

very beginning. “It appears that the previous shareholders did not intend to complete it,” he said, adding that today this contract is “undoubtedly loss-making.”

REA will have to pay RUB3bn ($95m), of which RUB1.7bn will be to pay off debts to suppliers and RUB1.3bn to pay wages, he noted. He said at present the facility employs 52 people, while there should be 1,500 working on the project.

Before the settlement the shipyard’s workers were planning a strike because of wage payment delays. Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Chairman of the Russian government said disagreements with REA had been settled and suspended financing would be resumed. FNPP construction will be continued under guarantees from USC which has taken direct control of BZ.

In August, the St Petersburg and Leningrad region court of arbitra-tion seized the FNPP as a guarantee for a claim against BZ by REA. BZ argued that REA owed the shipyard about RUB1.3bn but has since dropped its appeal against the court decision to impound the FNPP. Russia’s Legal Information Agency said proceedings will continue to determine whether ownership of the vessel lies with BZ or REA.

For USC to manage the enterprise effectively, a 100% owned subsidiary company, Baltiyskiy Zavod Sudostroyeniye, will be established, Vedomosti reported. The new company will conclude contracts for the construction of ships, and all of the enterprise’s personnel will be transferred to it.

BZ will retain its property and all preceding contracts and BZ will gradually settle accounts with its creditors. Aleksandr Voznesens-kiy is expected to become the director of the new company. He is currently director of strategic development for the manufacture of Klimov helicopter engines and USC and also head of the board for the construction of a shipbuilding complex in Kronshtadt. For the time being he will hold all three jobs.

In mid-October, USC assumed management of BZ which was 88% owned by Sergey Pugachev’s Obedinennaya Promyshlennaya Korporatsiya .

In mid 2010 BZ was put up as collateral at Tsentrobank for a loan of Rub32bn its Mezhprombank, which soon lost its licence. Tsentro-bank tried unsuccessfully to obtain ownership of the plant’s shares through the courts, then at the end of September, the Moscow arbi-tration court placed BZ’s shares under Tsentrobank’s management, and the bank gave the enterprise to USC.

But it was discovered that BZ was around RUB7bn in debt. USC now plans to give BZ an order for an icebreaker/supply ship for Gaz-flot for RUB3bn, which was originally designated for the Amurskiy Sudostroitelnyy Zavod [Amur Shipyard], as well as to transfer several military ships for final outfitting from Kaliningrad’s Yantar and Severnaya Verf.

business briefsbELGIUM: Utility Electrabel will contest any proposals by the new Belgian government to increase taxes on the nuclear industry by “all legal means.” European nuclear news service NucNet reports that Electrabel has called for “respect of international agreements protecting the sector’s investments”. Electrabel was responding to media reports that French-speaking Socialist Party leader Elio Di

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Rupo, who is in talks to form a government, wants to levy €1bn/year ($1.3bn/year) on Electrabel, the Belgian branch of French utility GDF Suez. In a statement, Electrabel threatened to close the three oldest Belgian nuclear reactors, Doel-1 and -2, and Tihange-1, if taxes are imposed on nuclear power. All three units began commer-cial operation in 1975.

CzECH REPUbLIC/RUSSIA: Czech company Arako, a subsidiary of Russia’s Atomenergomash that produces valves for the nuclear power industry, will invest CZK160m ($9.2m) in major equipment replace-ment over the next two years. This will allow Arako to reduce prod-uct costs and increase production efficiency to meet the growing needs of NPPs planned or under construction in Russia. To finance the modernisation programme, Arako took a loan from the Czech-Slovak Operational Bank (Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka or CSOB) at a 3.5% interest rate. Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom guaranteed the loan. In addition, Arako will spend 8% of proceeds on production improvements and implementation of innovations. Arako’s proceeds were CZK417m in 2010 and are expected to reach CZK450m in 2011. In 2010, Arako’s net profit was CZK32m and an-nual average profit growth was 70% in 2008-2010. Nuclear products amount to 70% of its production.

FRANCE: Unions at AREVA fear up to 10% of AREVA’s staff, up to 4,000 workers, could lose their jobs as a result of a strategic review of the company to be presented by CEO Luc Oursel in mid Decem-ber, according to reports in French newspaper Le Figaro. In October, AREVA said it was reviewing its investments, and might postpone some because of the March disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) has impacted decisions on nuclear invest-ments worldwide. According to Le Figaro, AREVA said no numbers were final and that it is still considering several scenarios. AREVA has hired Boston Consulting Group for a review, and analysts say AREVA could make up to 30% in across the board cuts.

INDIA: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) plans to conclude a joint venture (JV) agreement with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) before the end of this fiscal year to set up a 2,000MWe NPP. NPCIL has submitted a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) to ONGC for review. ONGC officials have said the company seeks to become an integrated energy company. The draft MOU calls for NPCIL to hold a 51% stake in the JV, with ONGC holding 49%. The cost of the 2,000MWe NPP is estimated at Rs200bn ($4bn), which NCPIL plans to finance through 70% debt and 30% equity financing. Only NPCIL and Bhartiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd are empowered to establish NPPs in India. Other companies wishing to have a stake in the industry must enter into agreements with them.

RUSSIA: Nuclear holding company Atomenergoprom (AEP) will pay out RUB8.1bn ($254.3m) in dividends on ordinary shares for the first half of the 2011 fiscal year. Dividends will amount to RUB12.04 /share. State nuclear corporation Rosatom is the sole shareholder in AEP and received RUB3.3bn as dividends on 2009 results. Results from 2010 suggest dividends will total RUB14.043bn. Dividends were to be paid in two parts: RUB6bn by the beginning of July 2011, and RUB8bn by the end of August. In the first half of 2011, AEP proceeds increased 5.2 times (up

RUB60.3m) compared with the similar period in 2010. At the same time, net profit dropped 1.6 times to RUB12.2bn. AEP includes about 45 Rosatom organisations, which cover the entire nuclear power production cycle from uranium mining through construc-tion of nuclear power plants to electricity generation.

RUSSIA: Rosatom is planning to merge Atomstroyexport (ASE) pinci-pal contractor for construction of nuclear power facilities abroad and Nizhny Novgorod Atomenergoproekt (NN AEP), chief architect and principal contractor for many NPP construction projects. The merger procedure should start by 1 December, with the appointment of a single executive body for both companies. “This may be a legal entity or physical person,” a Rosatom source told Nuclear.ru. The merger should be completed in the second quarter of 2012. ASE is building five nuclear reactors abroad while NN AEP is principal contractor for reactors at Russia’s Kalinin, Rostov and Baltic NPPs and is helping to design NPPs for Turkey, India and Nizhniy Novgorod in Russia. In 2008, Rosatom planned to merge ASE with St Petersburg Atomen-ergoproekt (SPb AEP) and appointed Leonid Reznikov to head both companies. A common management structure was planned but never put in place. In March 2010, ASE President Dan Belenkiy was appointed part-time Director General of SPb AEP but the merger never went ahead.

RUSSIA: The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) says the Isotope Company violated Russian law by setting high monopolistic prices for isotope products and imposing disadvantageous, technically and economically unjustified terms on delivery. In May, Atom, Kvant and Murmansk Exploration Expedition, which had previously purchased isotopes directly from producers, complained about the high prices set by Isotope after Rosatom in September 2010 made Isotope sole agent for isotope sales at home and abroad. FAS found that Isotope charged an additional 50% or more than the prices charged by producers. In August Rosatom investigated Isotope’s activity and withdrew its approval for Isotope to act as sole agent. In September Isotope admitted breaching the antimonopoly law. FAS required Isotope to set economically and technologically justified prices for isotopes within three months and to report to FAS every six months on its economic activities, prices, trade margins, and purchase and sales volumes of isotopes in the Russian market.

RUSSIA: Murmansk electricity supplier Kolenergosbyt owes nuclear utility Rosenergoatom RUB1.5bn ($48.3m). Kola NPP Plant Manager Vasily Omelchuk says Rosenergoatom is treating the debt problems “with understanding” and is ready for further negotia-tions. Earlier talks resulted in agreements on partial payment of the debt and provisions to cover current payments. Kolenergosbyt and Rosenergoatom have agreed on the possible transfer of ownership to Rosenergoatom of part of the property of the heat supply organisa-tion in Polyarnye Zory City, TVS, for repayment and restructuring the remainder of the debt, and payment by instalments. “We expect Kolenergosbyt to produce proposals on a debt repayment schedule and a record of market value assessment of TVS assets,” Omelchuk said. The companies will then jointly develop a plan to restructure the remainder of the debt, he added.

UKRAINE: Nuclear utility Energoatom has selected Alfa-Bank and Oschadbank, both based in Kiev, to open two renewable credit lines

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worth a total of UAH700m ($87.3m), according to the Economic Devel-opment and Trade Ministry’s web site. The cost of servicing Alfa-Bank’s credit line of UAH400m will be UAH206.212m (including VAT), and that of Oschadbank’s credit line of UAH300m, UAH157.356m (includ-ing VAT). Both credit lines will run for three years from the date of the signing the agreement, expected in mid November. In July, Energoat-om signed an agreement with Ukreximbank on the attraction of loans worth a total of $130m. Prominvestbank won an Energoatom tender to open a renewable credit line worth $50m.

UKRAINE: Nuclear utility Energoatom intends to raise UAH150m ($18.8m) in credit lines, according to a statement on the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade website. Bids will be accepted until the end of November, and the tender proposals will be disclosed then as well. The tender is divided into two lots: UAH100m as an overdraft and UAH50m as a renewable credit line. The loans will be raised for one year from the signing date of the credit agreement. Energoatom operates Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants, with a total of 15 VVER reactors and an overall generating capacity of 13.835GWe.

UKRAINE: The electricity generating enterprises that make up nuclear utility Energoatom produced 1.6% more electricity year-on-year in January-September, increasing production to 65.588bn kWh. Col-lectively, Ukraine’s NPPs exceeded their production targets by 3.2%. Zaporizhia NPP increased power generation by 1.2% to 30.198TWh and Khmelnytsky NPP by 20.8% to 11.540TWh. However, South Ukraine NPP produced 3.7% less power than expected, 11.554TWh, and Rivne NPP 6.9% less (12.134Th). The Tashlyk pumped-storage electric power station produced 9.6% more power (125.1m kWh), the Donuzlav wind power plant 2.3 times more (4.4m kWh). The Olek-sandrivska hydropower plant produced 3.2% less power (33.3m kWh).

UK: The government has offered Sheffield Forgemasters a loan of up to £36m ($57m) to continue upgrades to increase production for the nuclear and steel industries. Forgemasters will repay the money in full over time, but in the meantime the funds should help the company to service the global civil nuclear renaissance and global nuclear refurbishment programmes, Forgemasters said. In June 2010 Forgemasters lost on out a planned loan of £80m due to cuts the cur-rent government made immediately on taking power. The loan was for a 15,000t press capable of making the largest nuclear forgings from steel ingots weighing up to 600t. Forgemasters CEO Graham Honeyman says the new loan would be used for new plant and equip-ment enhancements for the forge and machine shops.

US: The Shaw Group announced financial results for the fourth quar-ter (Q4) of fiscal year 2011. A company statement said the market outlook for the year was very positive overall with significant op-portunities in most operating segments. Shaw expects construction licences for its nuclear projects by early 2012, which should have a positive impact on earnings. Shaw’s backlog of unfilled orders totals $20.0bn, including new Q4 three-year maintenance and service contracts with Florida Power & Light for four NPP units in Florida, and with NextEra Energy Seabrook for the Seabrook NPP in New Hampshire. Shaw announced its special purpose subsidiary, Nuclear Energy Holdings intended to exercise put options to sell its invest-ment in Westinghouse back to Toshiba Corporation.

US: Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) has reported financial and produc-tion results for the fourth quarter (Q4) and fiscal year to the end of July. During Q4, UEC produced 83,000lbs of U3O8 in inventory, including work-in-progress, compared with 49,000lbs in the previous quarter. From the beginning of production in November 2010 until the end of July 2011, UEC produced a total of 153,000lbs of U3O8 at a cash operating expense of $13/lb. As of the end of July, UEC remained debt free, with $30.7m in cash, and 153,000lbs of U3O8 in inventory. Also in Q4, Uranium Energy signed its first multi-year sales contract, and acquired the historically significant Anderson Mine project in Arizona: In May 2011, terms were finalised on UEC’s merger with Concentric Energy Corp, specifically to acquire the An-derson Mine project.UEC also acquired the Coronel Oviedo Uranium Project in Paraguay.

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belgium shutdown agreementbELGIAN POLITICAL PARTIES have reached a conditional agreement to shut down the country’s two remaining nuclear power plants (NPPs), owned by GDF Suez unit Electrabel. The plan calls for closing Belgium’s three oldest reactors by 2015, and a complete pullout from nuclear power by 2025. However, it is conditional on finding suf-ficient alternative sources of energy to prevent shortages.

Belgium’s energy and climate ministry said that the country would stay with the nuclear exit law of 2003, unless this would pro-duce energy shortages or spiking prices. Belgium now operates seven reactors at two NPPs.

GDF Suez shares fell nearly 5% on the announcement. Ana-lysts at Itinera think tank have said that Belgium cannot have replacement capacity in place by 2015, and added that Belgium’s energy regulator CREG already has made statements to this effect. Another concern is the state of the economy. If a new recession materialises, electricity demand will drop, and there would be more margin to take capacity off the grid. If the economy recovers strongly, it will be harder to reduce capacity.

Belgium will now negotiate with investors to see how it can find new capacity to replace the 5,860MWe that will be lost if the Doel and Tihange NPPs close.

The political parties also discussed increasing taxes on Electrabel, which agreed in 2009 to pay between €215m ($304m) and €245m per year in the period 2010-2014, for operating the NPPs. Belgian business daily L’Echo wrote that Elio Di Rupo, the French-speaking Socialist party chief leading coalition talks, wanted to charge the Electrabel-dominated nuclear industry €1bn/year.

E.ON and RwE get taxes reimbursedGERMANY’S TwO LARGEST utilities, E.ON and RWE, have been condi-tionally reimbursed €170m ($237m) in nuclear fuel taxes after two courts ruled in their favour.

E.ON, Germany’s biggest nuclear power producer, received a tenta-

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tive reimbursement of €96m in taxes on its Grafenrheinfeld reactor. RWE received €74m for the Gundremmingen plant.

Courts in Hamburg and Munich ruled in the utilities’ favour after they protested against the levy. Ultimately, a federal fiscal court will decide whether the utilities can keep the money.

The levy was drafted last year to accompany a proposal by Chancel-lor Angela Merkel to extend the life of the reactors into the 2030s. However, the government scrapped the life extension plan in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima accident, but kept the tax in order to help trim the budget deficit. Some analysts have put the utilities’ chances of gaining a favourable decision from the fiscal court at less than 50%.

EON, RWE, EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg and Vattenfall have extended cost-cutting and asset-sale programmes to curb losses from Germany’s decision to close its NPPs. EON in August reported its first quarterly loss in a decade, citing costs linked to the fuel tax and the nuclear phase-out. RWE said the policy reduced first-half 2011 profit by €900m.

E.ON readies German shutdown lawsuitE.ON plans to file a complaint with Germany’s highest court seeking compensation for lost profits from Germany’s decision to pull out of nuclear power, according to reports in German newspaper Financial Times Deutschland. The paper quoted unidentified industry sources as saying the lawsuit would be filed before the end of the year with the German constitutional court.

China to scale back nuclear plansCHINESE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY officials have said that China’s 2020 nuclear capacity targets will probably be scaled down in the wake of the moratorium on new project approvals issued after Japan’s Fuku-shima Daiichi accident in March.

China originally planned to release a revised nuclear develop-ment blueprint this year, with many analysts predicting a new 2020 target of 86GWe, up from the previous 40GWe. At the end of 2010, China’s capacity stood at 10.9GWe, with an additional 40GWe under construction. China’s reactor builders had suggested that as much as 100-120GWe could be available by 2020. However, Beijing said that such plans would be adjusted in the wake of Fukushima.

Li Yongjiang, Vice President of the China Nuclear Energy Associa-tion (CNEA), said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Hong Kong that China was likely to resume new projects in 2012, but had already lost a year of construction time. He said the 86GWe target had been tight even before Fukushima, and that the suspension would force a delay of around 10GWe of new capacity this year. If new proj-ects restart next year, China would only be able to build 60-70GWe by 2020, so the target would definitely have to be reduced, he said.

In March, China ordered a nationwide inspection of existing plants and construction sites in order to allay public safety fears. Areas of concern included the safety of the many second-generation (Gen II) reactors set to go into operation, the shortage of qualified safety and operational personnel, and the possible construction of nuclear projects in seismically vulnerable provinces like Sichuan. Of-ficials have suggested that no new Gen II reactors will be approved, leaving the way clear for Gen III models designed by France’s AREVA

and US based Westinghouse, owned by Japan’s Toshiba.After a four-month review, Chinese regulators have concluded

that the nuclear industry meets international and domestic safety standards. Initial results of the safety inspections indicate that China’s nuclear power plants (NPPs) comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards, as well as China’s current nuclear safety regulations, according to China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA). Results of the assessments are still being evaluated in greater detail. NNSA, Ministry of Environmental Protection, National Energy Administration (NEA) and China Earth-quake Administration joint inspected all plants between April and August. NEA suspended future approvals of NPPs pending comple-tion of the review.

China may invest in Romanian NPPHowever, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC) may invest in a project to build two additional reactors at Romania’s only NPP in Cernavoda on the Danube River, according to Romania’s Economy Ministry. Romania’s state-owned nuclear power plant operator Nuclearelectrica and CGNPC signed a confidentiality agree-ment in Beijing that allows CGNPC to seek details about the reac-tors. Romania now operates two 706MWe units at Cernavoda, which provide 20% of its electricity and plans to have the new units on line by 2019. It is seeking private partners to help finance the project.

The confidentiality agreement will allow CGNPC to access informa-tion about ways to invest in Cernavoda-3 and -4. A ministry statement, said the agreement is part of a procedure to select new investors.

Since European power groups GDF Suez, Iberdrola, RWE and CEZ withdrew from the Cernavoda partnership, Romania has increas-ingly looked to Asian companies as funding partners. In Septem-ber, a South Korean consortium led by BKB Co visited Romania to discuss the project.

The Economy Ministry has said it intends to sell 40% of its shares in the €4bn ($5.7bn) project. Nuclearelectrica still has two of its six original foreign partners, Italy’s Enel and a local unit of ArcelorMit-tal, which together hold slightly more than a 15% stake.

bangladesh signs NPP deal with RussiaRUSSIA AND bANGLADESH on November 2 signed an intergovern-mental agreement for construction of the first nuclear power plant (NPP) in Bangladesh. A statement by state nuclear corporation Rosatom said the agreement provides for the design, construc-tion and commissioning of two units with VVER-1000 reactors at Rooppur, 200km from Dhaka, as well as construction of the relevant infrastructure.

Rosatom head Sergei Kirienko said the plant will have a passive heat transfer system, hydrogen recombinators, a molten-core catcher and double containment in order to meet post-Fukushima security requirements. Russia will supply nuclear fuel to the plant through-out its service life, Bangladeshi specialists will begin an internship and training with Rosatom starting next year.

Bangladesh will fund all research at the $1.5bn site, with construc-tion expected to be completed by 2018, said Alexander Glukhov, President of Russian construction company Atomstroyexport. A

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preliminary agreement in February provided for design, construc-tion and commissioning of the two reactors and followed a 2009 framework cooperation agreement with Russia.

Rosatom and and Bangladesh’s Atomic Energy Commission will now work on two further deals relating to costing and equipment procurement TheInternational Atomic Energy Association approved Bangladesh’s plans to build a NPP in 2007. France, South Korea, China and Pakistan have all expressed interest in assisting with the project.

Officials earlier said the major part of the cost will be provided through domestic funds with the rest coming from the supplier or international donors as soft loans. Currently only 40% of the popula-tion has access to electricity provided by 41 public and private sector plants with de-rated capacity of 5,198MWe. Bangladesh has a deficit of 1,000-1,500MWe with dwindling reserves in existing gas fields, the main source for its power generation, along with expensive imports of oil.

Australia wavering on uranium sales to IndiaAUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, Kevin Rudd, and the Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, say the Labour Party is free to debate a policy change to allow uranium exports to India. While Rudd remains opposed, saying India does not need any more uranium, Ferguson has long been pressing for a policy change.

Indian officials and businesses lobbied quietly at the Common-wealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth for the government to change its policy and allow uranium exports. However, the ruling Labour Party formally continues to oppose uranium sales to India and other states that have not signed the nuclear non prolif-eration treaty (NPT).

The Age reported in October that a confidential briefing note to Ferguson last February says Australia and India have already begun a “dialogue” over a potential sale. The note says the opened dialogue will prove useful if Labour decides to change its policy at its national conference in December. “The dialogue could be elevated in the future as conditions allow agreement on exporting uranium to India,” it said. Ferguson will be pushing to “modernise” Labour’s uranium policy at the national conference, The Age added. Earlier this year he declared India had a “very, very good history of nuclear non-proliferation”.

Australia is presently among the top three sellers of uranium in the world, with over 20% of the world’s reserves still in the ground. Current uranium sales are subject to strict controls under agree-ments between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Austra-lia. Under pesent law any buyer of Australian uranium must also be part of the NPT.

A spokesperson for Ferguson told ABC News that suggestions Australia was looking to sell uranium to India were incorrect, adding that the dialogue was about selling resources and energy but not uranium. Ferguson told The Age the government was sticking by its policy only to supply uranium to NPT signatory countries.

However, earlier WikiLeaks cables indicated that Ferguson told the US embassy in Canberra that a deal to supply India with ura-nium could be reached within three to five years. Liberal opposition leader Tony Abbott, who was also in Perth for the Commonwealth meeting, reportedly met Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari on

the sidelines to discuss the issue.Recently, South Australian (SA) Premier Mike Rann retracted his

earlier opposition to selling uranium to India. Asked by Australia’s Sky News Showdown if the federal government was wrong to ban uranium exports to India, Rann said that he believed it was “prob-ably time for a sensible discussion about that”. He noted that India was now prepared to sign up to very strict standards for its nuclear power programme. He had previously said sales to India would be a “grave mistake” and “extremely foolhardy”.

Rann’s remarks came a week after he agreed to BHP Billiton’s pro-posal to expand the Olympic Dam mine in SA, which he said would be the world’s largest uranium mine.

Indian anti-nuclear protests continueINDIA’S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has set up a 15-member panel of experts to discuss safety issues with villagers protesting against a nuclear power plant (NPP) in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Villagers near the Kudankulam NPP under construction with Russian assistance have been protesting for weeks and want the plant scrapped out of concern for their safety and livelihoods. The 15-member panel includes specialists in radiation, reactor safety, oncology, fisheries and nuclear waste management.

At least 100 villagers have staged a hunger strike in front of the plant, and protesters have blocked the entry of workers to the plant. The protests accelerated after the March accident involving Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi NPP. Two 1,000MWe reactors at the NPP are scheduled to begin operation at the end of the year.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has said her government stands firm on suspending work on the controversial Kundankulam NPP until the people’s concerns are addressed. Jayalalithaa issued a strongly worded statement that said the federal government and Kundankulam have done little to allay fears surrounding the Indo-Russia joint venture. She also charged that she had not received two letters on the issue from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, even though the Indian media already has reported on their contents.

Russian experts leave NPP siteMeanwhile, experts from Russian nuclear construction company Atomstroyexport (ASE) have left the site after they were refused permission to visit the area by the police in face of the ongoing pro-tests. Police said as they feared that there could be “surprise attacks” on the Russians by the protesters, they were hesitant to permit the Russian engineers to visit the site.

The Russians were staying in the nearby Anu Vijay township but said they could not stay there indefinitely. Police had issued warnings to the Central Industrial Security Force personnel who were providing security to the Russian group. NPP officials are concernd that they will be unable to prepare a report for the government’s panel of experts if they are not allowed to go the project site and have asked for immedi-ate government intervention to sort out the problem.

There are also concerns about the ongoing pre-commissioning tests at the plant. Atomic Energy Commission of India’s Chairman Srikumar Banerjee says the tests cannot be stopped and “minimal maintenance activity” was required to ensure the project proceeded

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smoothly. He said that any stoppage of trials would endanger the workers and the protestors. With the hot run at unit 1 “very close to completion,” the cooling apparatus needs to continue its monitored circulation, he said. “The coolant should not be allowed to stagnate as it will create problems in the future. Minimum maintenance ac-tivity is required for the health of the plant and its future,” he added.

Refusing to speculate on what the recommendations of the Prime Minister’s special panel were likely to be, Banerjee indicated that the reactor could be operated safely with the few workers still inside, despite the protestors blocking people from entering or leaving. He also echoed the statement by Nuclear Power Corpora-tion of India (NPCIL) Chairman Shreyans Kumar Jain, that a NPP is not a car to be switched on and off anytime, and that the protests were damaging the plant.

Schedule changesThe protests have also caused the dates of the planned first criti-cality of Kudankulam-1 to be changed. Atomstroyexport President Alexander Glukhov said talks are underway to determine a new commissioning schedule. The first reactor was to have been loaded with fuel in December but Glukhov believes the schedule “should be adjusted”.

He thinks that India should pay more attention to the public opinion and better prepare the way for NPP construction. The delays and schedule changes could also affect financial arrangements he added, saying this issue may be discussed in future. However he does not believe cuirrent events will affect implementation of other nuclear construction projects on the agreed “roadmap”. The number of reactors to be built are important but not the sites, which can be changed, “in principle,” he said, noting that India has a “very posi-tive” attitude towards cooperation with Russia.

Civil nuclear cooperation was also among the key issues dis-cussed by the Indian and French foriegn ministers during a series of meetings in mid October. In a press briefing following the meet-ings, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said discussions included France’s stringent safety standards. France is in discussions with India on the construction of two 1,650MWe European pressurised water reactors (EPRs) in Jaitapur in Maharashtra.

Taiwan puts limits on nuclear powerTAIwAN’S NEw ENERGY policy rules out any life extensions to Taip-ower’s existing nuclear power plants (NPPs). The aim of the policy is eventually to make Taiwan nuclear-free”. Chinshan, Kuosheng and Maanshan NPPs will not operate beyond their planned 40-year lives and that Taiwan’s fourth NPP at Lungmen will only start operations when all safety requirements have been met. The oldest two units will face early closure if both Lungmen units are in commercial operation before 2016.

The new policy had been prepared “in keeping with the principles of no power rationing, maintenance of stable electricity prices and continued reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to meet interna-tional goals,” said officials. They also noted that it is in line with Ar-ticle 23 of the Basic Environment Act, which directs the government to make plans that will eventually see Taiwan become nuclear-free.

Taiwan’s oldest operating nuclear units are the two 604MWe Gen-eral Electric boiling water reactors at Chinshan, which started com-mercial operation in 1978 and 1979. Taipower had been expecting to seek 20-year licence renewals for all of its operating plants, and in 2007 Taiwan’s Atomic Energy Council (AEC) approved a life exten-sion for the Chinshan units after a safety evaluation found them safe to run for a further 20 years. However, they will now be closed at the end of their original 40-year licence provided the two 1300MWe Lungmen ABWRs are working by then. The operating licences for Kuosheng and Maanshan NPPs expire in the early 2020s.

The two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR) under con-struction at Lungmen will be allowed to start up but only after pass-ing strict safety evaluations by the government and international nuclear safety organisations. Additional improvements are being car-ried out at the plant in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis earlier this year, and an operation date is to be announced early in 2012. However, at the end of October Minister of Economic Af-fairs Shih Yen-shiang said they would enter commercial operation no later than 2017.

Although work started on Lungmen in 1999, the project has faced political, legal and other delays. The first unit is currently undergo-ing pre-operational tests and was scheduled to open in December, but start-up has been repeatedly delayed partly because of unsatis-factory trial runs and then because of the need for post-Fukushima upgrades. Taipower Chairman Edward KM Chen estimated that each year of delay would increase costs by NT$5bn ($166.7m). Some 99% of energy used on Taiwan is imported. Although nuclear power comprises only 11% of installed generating capacity it has played a significant part in the island’s electricity supply for two decades, and now provides about a quarter of base-load power. In 2010 Taipower had announced that it was considering uprating the six existing reac-tors as well as completing three new ones, including the two already under construction, by 2025.

Vietnam’s programme draws interestRUSSIA’S FINANCE MINISTRY has concluded an intergovernmental agreement with Vietnam that calls for Russia to provide a state loan for construction of Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant (NPP), said Aleksandr Glukhov the head of nuclear construction company Atomstroyexport (ASE), which is part of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Glukhov did not specify the size of the loan. Project financing will be opened when “real work” begins on the Ninh Thuan NPP in early 2012, he said.

Vietnam is also ready to forge a new intergovernmental agree-ment with Japan for construction of its phase two of its first NPP using Japanese technology. During a state visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to Japan at the end of October, Japan and Vietnam reaffirmed their plan to build a NPP in Vietnam using Japanese technology.

Last October, Vietnam accepted Japan as a partner in the construc-tion of two reactors but this was put in doubt after the Fukushima accident. However, a joint statement released after the recent talks said Japan was committed to enhance nuclear safety by sharing les-

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sons learnt from Fukushima. Vietnam had presented six conditions to the Japanese govern-

ment, including the introduction of safety-verified, cutting-edge technology, and provisions covering nuclear waste disposal. Japan has met these conditions. The final outstanding issue involved low-interest loans to the Vietnamese government that would provide capital for construction. Both countries are believed to have reached agreement on this.

Kazakhstan is also taking an interest in Vietnam’s nuclear plans. During a visit to Vietnam in October, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev noted the huge potential of a Kazakh-Vietnamese partnership. A statement released by the Kazakh presidential press service said Kazakhstan was ready to cooperate with Vietnamese partners in many areas and had “significant interest in long-term supplies of nuclear fuel to Vietnam and in taking part in projects to build NPPs”.

Japan to continue nuclear plant exportsJAPANESE TRADE MINISTER Yukio Edano said in October that Japan will continue to promote nuclear plant exports. He told a news con-ference at an International Energy Agency ministerial meeting in Paris that Japan wants to provide other countries with its world-class nuclear safety technologies and knowledge.

However, he noted that Japan aims to accelerate efforts to promote the use of renewable energy and development of relevant technolo-gies. Addressing the meeting, Edano expressed gratitude for other countries’ support in the wake of the crisis at Fukushima and said Japan intends to share lessons from the crisis with other countries.

The previous day, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said that with respect to nuclear exports, the government will be careful not to damage the trust it has developed with longtime diplomatic partners, and will move ahead with nuclear agreements with Russia, South Korea, Jordan and Vietnam. He added that the government will decide on ways to negotiate new nuclear deals while taking into account the official findings on the Fukushima accident.

After a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo-gan Noda agreed in early November to resume negotiations on the ci-vilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Turkey which had started before the Fukushima accident. Erdogan said he hoped the bilateral negotiations on plans to construct a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Turkey would go forward. Talks were suspended after Fukushima.

Japan has also reaffirmed plans to build a NPP in Vietnam (see previous story) and at the end of October Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and his Indian counterpart, S.M. Krishna agreed to move ahead with talks toward a civilian nuclear power agreement - a precondition to enable Japan to export nuclear technology India. “In a transparent manner, we will provide (India) with information on the cause and the research outcome of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, as well as on our efforts at ensuring safety,” Genba told a press conference in Tokyo.

However, Jordan is becoming impatient and warned Japan that if the Diet (parliament) does not ratify a bilateral civil nuclear coopera-tion agreement by the end of the year, a Japanese-French consortium would not be considered for a lucrative contract to build Jordan’s first

NPP. Jordan plans to have the plant on line by 2019. Khaled Touqan, Jordan’s Energy and Mineral Resources Minister,

met with Japanese officials in early October and requested that the Diet endorse the accord by the end of December, when the success-ful bid would be selected. A consortium of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and France’s AREVA is competing with Russian and Canadian firms to win contracts worth more than $4bn (¥300bn) for the plant.

In late August, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lower House of the Diet decided not to vote on the agreement after an expert out-lined problems with the supply of cooling water to the planned site in Jordan. Japan’s Foreign Ministry urged that a vote be scheduled after it inspected the site and concluded the problems there could be solved. The Upper House has approved the measure and both coun-tries signed it last September.

UAE seeks approval for constructionUNITED ARAb EMIRATES (UAE) Emirates Nuclear Energy Corpora-tion (ENEC) has requested the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regu-lation (FANR) approval of additional preparatory construction work for the UAE’s first nuclear power plant (NPP). UAE expects to have four NPPs in operation by 2020, which will produce almost 25% of its electricity. ENEC expects to begin producing electricity for the grid by 2017.

ENEC hopes to begin pouring concrete at Bakra, the site UAE selected for its first NPP, by 2012. ENEC has applied for approval to create a smooth flat surface at the bottom of the excavation to prepare for pouring concrete for units 1 and 2, according to an ENEC statement. It also seeks approval to place reinforcing steels, embed-ded pipes, electrical conduits and electrical grounding material. ENEC will not be authorised to pour concrete for the permanent power block until it receives a construction licence from FANR, the statement said. ENEC submitted its construction licence application to FANR in December 2010.

In December 2009, UAE contracted with a South Korea-led con-sortium for design, construction and operation of the four reactors. It is expected to award a fuel supply contract early next year. In July 2010, FANR and the Environment Agency approved licences for non-safety-related preparations at Braka, such as the construction of a jetty, and a limited licence for the manufacture of major compo-nents in South Korea. FANR officials have said the agency expects to complete review of the licence application by mid 2012.

Meanwhile, in October a week-long workshop on Safety Assess-ment of NPPS drew 19 participants from ENEC, Khalifa University and FANR itself, who have recently graduated from science and en-gineering studies. The workshop was organised jointly by FANR, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS).

“This is an investment in a sustainable nuclear energy pro-gramme,” said Ian Grant, Director of FANR Nuclear Safety De-partment. FANR has been reviewing ENEC’s construction licence application since 27 December 2010. The review, planned to take ap-proximately 18 months, will include any supplemental issues raised by the Fukushima accident.

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Russia prepares for reactor exportDEMAND FOR RUSSIAN nuclear power plants has remained strong de-spite the Fukushima-Daiichi accident in March 2011 and Russia aims to further increase its international presence, state nuclear corporation Rosatom head Sergei Kirienko told investors in London in October.

He said all six export contracts signed by Rosatom in 2010 and 2011 remain in place and Rosatom has also concluded agreements with China and Slovakia to improve their existing nuclear infra-structure, as well as a “road map” with India for its civilian nuclear programme, he said.

Russia is looking for new western partners to further develop its nuclear investments both at home and abroad. “Our goal is to open up the sector to broad, free dialogue with the western investment community,” he said.

Rosatom’s acquisition of a majority stake in Canada-based Ura-nium One was “a vital step towards this goal”. Part of Russia’s strat-egy includes design of a new internationally competitive reactor, VVER-TOI (standard optimised and informatised large power unit with a water-water reactor) which is now 53% complete and it should be ready by the end of 2012. It is intended for extensive construction abroad, in particular, in Turkey, Vietnam and other countries.

The VVER-TOI is designed for rapid (40-46 months) serial con-struction with the aim of making possible a world-beating cost of $2.5m/MW of installed capacity.

Compared with Russia’s current standardAES-2006 design, the VVER-TOI will offer more efficient power generation and fuel usage; increased reactor thermal power with increased electrical capacity (gross) up to 1,250-1,300MWe; improved core design to increase cool-ing reliability; and further development of passive safety systems.

It will have a 60-year design life. Its IT platforms will allow for con-tinuous improvement of the core VVER design, while a new supplier relationship management system will optimise procurement costs.

The terms of reference document for the VVER-TOI design were ap-proved in July after a coordination process that involved all project par-ticipants and potential customers, explained Rosatom Deputy Director General And Director of Project Engineering Alexander Polushkin.

In addition to the major customer, nuclear utility Rosenergoatom, the project involved two co-customers: construction company Atom-stroyexport and Rosenergoatom’s Capital Projects Department.

Polushkin said the design work involves interaction of contrac-tors for all constituents of the project operating within a common information space, contractors for reactor installation, turbine, civil construction, ventilation, metal structures etc.

“For instance, we are working jointly and in parallel with the Izhorskiye Zavody and Petrozavodskmash on the reactor installa-tion,” Polushkin noted. Both works are ready to start making the reactor in a year, but suppliers will be selected through bidding.

belarus and Russia sign NPP contractAFTER YEARS OF wrangling, the head of the Belarus Nuclear Power Plant Construction Directorate, Mikhail Filimonov, and Alexander

Glukhov, President of Russia’s Atomstroyexport (ASE) in October signed the general contract for the construction of the first nuclear power plant (NPP) in Belarus.

The contract is for the turnkey construction by ASE of two 1,200MWe AES-2006 model VVER reactors, developed by the St Petersburg Atomenergoproekt.

Belarus earlier launched a tender for construction of the plant in-viting bids from state nuclear corporation Rosatom, France’s AREVA and US-based Westinghouse-Toshiba.

ASE, Rosatom’s subsidiary for the construction of nuclear power plants abroad, was the only bidder willing to proceed and to provide financing for the estimated $9bn plant, to be built at Ostrovetsk in Grodno near the Lithuanian border. Work has already started on the site. The house of representatives of the Belarus National Assembly ratified the construction agreement later in October.

In May 2009, Russia and Belarus signed an intergovernmental agreement on nuclear cooperation which specified the main direc-tions of cooperation in the development, design, construction and operation of NPPs, nuclear fuel supply, nuclear and radiation safety, as well as scientific cooperation and training.

This was followed in September 2009 with ASE signing an agree-ment to assist in a feasibility study into the construction of the plant and investment options available to finance the project.

Officials in Belarus have said Russia would provide Belarus with a loan that will cover at least 90% of the value of the construction contract.

Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadzyuk told reporters in Minsk that the remaining funding will come from the government or from other lenders. He did not disclose the cost of the NPP or the size of the Russian loan but noted that it would not cover the costs of the necessary housing.

He also refused to say when the loan agreement was likely to be signed but said it was at “a high degree of readiness”, and would be submitted to the governments of Belarus and Russia after expert consultations

According to the Strategy for the Development of the Energy Poten-tial of the Republic of Belarus for the period to the end of 2020, a total of $9,334m is to be spent on building the NPP between 2011 and 2020, $3bn between 2011 and 2015, and $6,334m between 2016 and 2020.

Aleksey Kudrin, who was then the Russian Finance Minister, said in May that the loan was expected to exceed $7bn. Glukhov said the loan agreement might be signed “in 2011 or early 2012.”

At present, the document is “at the concurrence stage”, he added, noting that Vnesheconombank would act as the operator-bank for the agreement on the Russian side.

Armenian NPP settles pay disputeDOzENS OF EMPLOYEES of Armenia’s nuclear power plant (NPP) at Metsamor, who resigned over a pay dispute with the plant, agreed in late October to return to work after accepting a 10% raise offered by the government, Energy Minister Armen Movsysian announced.

More than 150 plant employees resigned after demanding the plant administration raise their wages by 50%, citing the dangerous character of their work and the increased cost of living.

In a short statement, the Ministry said the average wage of the

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450 workers would be increased by 10%. Employee representatives said they accepted the offer, although it satisfied no one. Metsamor NPP, closed for repairs and refuelling since early September, re-started on 28 October after some delays. Vahram Petrosian, head of the Hayatom state-run nuclear energy research institute, attributed the delays to the mass resignations.

The employees, including senior nuclear engineers, had asked Metsamor Director Gagik Markosian to increase their wages 50% or terminate their employment contracts. Under Armenia’s Labour Code, workers are considered to have been automatically relieved of their du-ties if their written quit requests are not granted or rejected for 30 days.

In the case of Metsamor, the legal deadline expired just before the final agreement. However, under Armenian nuclear safety regulations, some workers had remained at the plant until replacements were found.

Metsamor employs more than 1,700 people, including the 450 working at the NPP’s only operating reactor. They earn AMD145,000-443,000 ($390-1,200) a month. The average monthly wage of workers demanding better pay stands at AMD277,500, about twice the nationwide pay average, according to plant officials.

A key energy supplierMetsamor is the only NPP in the South Caucasus, and supplies 40% of Armenia’s electricity. It was closed following a 1988 earthquake but blockades by Turkey and Azerbaijan led to severe energy short-ages and the government to decide to reopen the plant in 1993.

One of its two VVER 440-V230 light-water reactors (unit 2) was recommissioned in 1995. Since 2003, Inter RAO UES, owned by Rus-sian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has managed Metsamor’s financial flows. The agreement expires in 2013.

In 2010 Russia and Armenia signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement under which Russia assumed responsibility for 20% of all expenses. The Armenian government will cover another 20% and the rest is supposed to come from investors

Armenia plans build a new NPP to replace the ageing facility which will have twice the capacity of the present plant. However, the government has yet to attract funding for the project that was estimated by a US-funded feasibility study to cost around $5bn.

Aremnia has been under continuous pressure from the European Union (EU) to close the nuclear plant but has refused to do so until replacement capacity is in place. The EU has forced closure of similar plants in Bulgaria leading to significant power problems for the region.

Stress-tests will be conducted at Metsamor NPP in April, 2012. Experts of the European Union and the Council of Europe will be involved in the third phase of the tests.

Construction of a new reactor for Armenia is a priority interna-tional project for Rosatom, said Deputy Director Nikolay Spassky, who was helped to prepare an intergovernmental agreement signed last year on construction of the new reactor. He said Rosatom was ready to participate not only in construction, but in financing and operation of the plant.

belene financing still unresolvedRUSSIA IS ACCEPTING the court proceedings now in train to settle the financial disputes with Bulgaria over the Belene nuclear power plant

(NPP) project and “hopes for a fair verdict regarding the claims”, Ro-satom Director General Sergei Kirienko told journalists in Moscow.

In July, Russian construction company Atomstroyexport (ASE) laid a claim with the International Court of Arbitration seeking re-covery of €58m ($80m) for delayed payments from Bulgarian power utility NEK, which, in turn put in a counter-claim for €61m.

Kirienko said the construction project was underway and Russian companies were continuing to make equipment ordered earlier. “How-ever, the work that has been done and accepted must be paid for,” he said, adding that Russia had allowed Bulgaria to defer its decision on Belene a number of times, but that the due date had now expired.

He said the Russian and Bulgarian state authorities should not interfere with disputes between the economic entities. “We trust the European legal procedures and believe a fair verdict will be brought in,” he said.

Earlier in October, ASE warned it may double its claim against NEK, but Bulgarian officials say they have had no formal notification of this. “NEK already owes us more than €130m for activities on the two reactors … but we are yet to decide whether to increase the claim in court,” ASE President Alexander Glukhov announced at the forum Atomex Europe 2011 in Prague.

However, Russia has agreed to extend the negotiations over Be-lene again, this time until the end of March 2012. The new, four-teenth, annex to the original agreement will allow them to take into account the results from the stress tests and the expected develop-ments on the electricity market.

Bulgaria and Russia are unable to agree on the price for the con-struction of the 2,000MWe Belene NPP, with Russia seeking €6.3bn and the Bulgarian government offering only €5bn.

British bank HSBC, consultant on the Belene project, has started working on an assignment for attracting financing by Russia’s Ro-satom, the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) announced.

Russia has several times offered to finance part of the project but Bulgaria has so far refused the offers. HSBC is expected to come up with clear parameters for financing the project by the end of March 2012, research the market, approach potential strategic investors and launch negotiations.

Russia is ready to finance the construction of the nuclear power plant at Belene in full, although Sofia will have a controlling stake in the project. Rosatom head Sergey Kiriyenko, told journalists at Atomex Europe-2011 in Prague that Russia was willing to finance all of the project.

He said this was possible partly because “some of the groundwork has already been done - equipment for the plant has been practically assembled, so the plant can be built quickly.

“In addition, the equipment has been bought at old prices, which makes the construction work cheaper.”

South Africa considers NPP tenderSOUTH AFRICAN ENERGY Minister Dipuo Peters has confirmed that the Cabinet is reviewing a tender proposal for construc-tion of 9,600MWe of nuclear power by 2030 that could be worth ZAR1,000bn ($129.6bn). However, Department of Energy Director General Nelisiwe Magubane has said the NPP programme would cost

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ZAR400bn, not ZAR1,000bn. If approved, this would be the largest public tender South Africa,

the largest economy in Africa, has ever issued. The government has not released details on how cash-strapped state-owned utility Eskom would raise money to pay for the plants.

South Africa, which produces 85% of its power from coal-fired plants, has a rapidly rising energy demand, largely from its platinum and gold producers. Eskom operates Africa’s only nuclear power plant (NPP) at Koeberg.

Reuters quotes Peters as saying that the government has not yet done the full calculation, and would only be sure of the total cost at the time it places the bid. The bid process is expected to begin in early 2012.

Speaking on the sidelines of an International Energy Agency meeting in Paris, Peters said a key factor would be the impact of nuclear expansion on consumers. Industries and residences have already seen steep tariff increases to help Eskom pay for new plants. A 2008 tender for a new NPP was scrapped because of Eskom’s financial difficulties.

If a tender is issued, bidders are expected to include France’s AREVA and Electricite de France (EDF); Japan’s Toshiba subsidiary Westinghouse; China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group; South Ko-rea’s Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) and Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

General briefsAUSTRALIA/RUSSIA: An Australian delegation has for the first time visited Russia’s Mashinostroitelny Zavod (MSZ) nuclear fuel plant, part of Fuel Company TVEL. The visit came under the Russian-Aus-tralian working group on the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The Australian delegation included representatives of the Australian Safeguards and Nonproliferation Office (ASNO), the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, and the Australian Embassy to Rus-sia. The delegation was shown fabrication of fuel pellets, charging of fuel rods and bundling of fuel assemblies. TVEL officials said the visit represented a “new page” of cooperation between state nuclear corporation Rosatom and Australia. ANSO and Rosatom signed an agreement in June which named Russian facilities where it would be possible to process, use and store Australian uranium or convert and/or enrich it. Russia could buy up to 4,000t/yr of natural uranium from Australia.

AzERbAIJAN/IAEA: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has agreed to perform five new projects together with Azerbaijan, according to the director of the Radiation Problems Institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), Adil Garibov. The projects will be carried out between 2012-2014, and Azerbaijan must pay 5% of the costs. The projects were developed by the Radiation Problems Institute, National Cancer Centre, State Committee on Standardisation, Metrology and Patents, the Emergency Situations Ministry and the ministry’s Isotope Centre, Garibov said. One proj-ect involves creation of a dosimetry laboratory for steriliser installa-tion in Azerbaijan by 2014.

CHINA/FRANCE: China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and France’s AREVA have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen collaboration in nuclear safety and operational excel-

lence. Under the agreement, the two parties will work on improving operating performance and on optimising maintenance of exist-ing reactors. A working group will be created to explore the scope and modalities of the collaboration, which will encompass lessons learned from Japan’s Fukushima accident and measures for optimis-ing CNNC’s NPPs.

EUROPE/FRANCE/CzECH Republic: France’s AREVA is “not at all concerned” about the outcome of stress tests on Europe’s NPPs, according to Ruben Lazo, AREVA Chief Commercial Officer. Japan’s Fukushima disaster would not stop construction of new reactors in Europe, he said after a bidders meeting in Prague on technical specifications for two planned reactors at CEZ’s Temelin station. Also present at the meeting were rival bidders Toshiba Westinghouse and a Russian-Czech group led by ZAO Atomstroyexport. “We are all waiting for the stress tests, but we are completely calm,” Lazo said, and added that Fukushima had not stopped many countries from go-ing ahead with their newbuild plans. He said that, while the Temelin tender was “very strategically important” for AREVA, it also was focusing its resources in China and India, where it is building two and six EPR reactors respectively—and bidding for more.

FINLAND: Fortum will participate in financing the bidding and en-gineering phase of the proposed fourth unit at Teollisuuden Voima Oyj’s (TVO’s), Olkiluoto NPP (OL-4). Fortum owns a 26% stake in TVO, a non-profit company that delivers electricity to its sharehold-ers at cost price. TVO shareholders will make the final decision on beginning bidding on the new unit. The government received three separate proposals for construction of new power reactors. Parlia-ment issued a decision in principle in July 2010 for construction of OL-4 and a new NPP in the north of the country proposed by Fennovoima. However, Fortum was denied a decision in principle for the construction of a third reactor at its Loviisa NPP in southeast Finland. Under terms of the OL-4 decision, TVO must apply for a construction licence by June 2015.

IAEA: The IAEA said that construction of new NPPs would increase steadily in the coming decades despite Japan’s nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi. However, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told the UN General Assembly in New York that new plants would be built less rapidly than expected, but the factors contributing to increased interest in nuclear power have not changed. These include increased global energy demand, concerns about climate change, volatile fossil fuel prices and security of energy supply. IAEA also sees an expanded role in nuclear safety worldwide. Amano said the new IAEA global action plan for nuclear safety must be fully imple-mented in all countries with NPPs so lessons could be learned from the Fukushima disaster. The IAEA General Conference endorsed the 12-point IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety in September.

IEA: An International Energy Agency (IEA) ministerial meeting in Paris heard forecasts that energy demand would grow by one third by 2035 and would require a global investment of $40,000bn. Invest-ments to meet energy supply infrastructure needs, most of which will come from the private sector, will be one of the major challeng-es. IEA predicted that two-thirds of the investment needed by 2035 will be in emerging economies. The ministers agreed on the need to promote supply diversity by development of natural resources, new

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transit routes, renewable energy and low carbon energy technolo-gies, including nuclear energy. Meeting Chairman Martin Ferguson, Australia’s Energy Minister, said that reducing the role of nuclear en-ergy, which currently provides 14% of the world’s electricity, would be likely to increase dependence on coal and gas. The meeting drew ministers and delegates from 37 countries, representing more than 75% of world energy consumption.

INDIA/IAEA: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has been appointed external auditor of the IAEA in Vienna as well as to the United Nations (UN) World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. This is the first time an audit organisation from outside Europe has been appointed to either position. India’s Finance Ministry said the appointments recognised the professional capabilities of CAG’s auditing talent pool. The audits could extend up to six years, he said. In the past, CAG has been appointed to the UN board of auditors and as external auditor to a number of other major UN agencies like the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the World Health Organisa-tion (WHO), the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

INDONESIA: The head of Indonesia’s National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan) said Indonesia’s first NPP in the Tanjung Ular Muntok Cape region, West Bangka, would be delayed due to concerns raised by Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi accident. Hudi Hastowo said experts had raised concerns because the proposed NPP is located in a seismically active region. Of particular concern was the possibility that a repeat of the 2004 tsunami that devastated Indonesia could lead to a di-saster similar to Fukushima. Indonesia currently has three research reactors: Kartini, Siwabessy and the Triga Mark II nuclear research facility. The country also has two uranium mines: Remaja-Hitam and Rirang-Tanah Merah in western Kalimantan and Borneo.

JAPAN/FRANCE: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon have agreed to cooperate on nuclear safety and confirmed further cooperation on cleaning up radioactive materials after emergencies. They agreed to study the possibility of establishing an international emergency response team that would be dispatched to deal with nuclear accidents, and to form a commit-tee to strengthen bilateral nuclear energy cooperation.

KAzAKHSTAN: Sergey Yashin, deputy head of national nuclear com-pany Kazatomprom told the 6th Eurasian Kazenergy Forum in Astana that a NPP could be built within 10 years and preliminary work had already started. In the near future, he said, Kazakhstan must identify the role of nuclear power in the energy mix; determine possible NPP sites; chose a technology based on safety considerations; and settle a “vast number” of other issues, including personnel training, develop-ment of operating standards, and the role Kazakh companies will play in construction of the plants. The government first expressed interest in building an NPP near Lake Balkhash in 1998 when it expected to have the first unit operating by 2005 and the plant completed by 2015. The proposed location for the NPP was later changed to Aktau, near the decommissioned fast breeder reactor BN-350.. Earlier, Yashin had said the Aktau NPP would begin operating in 2016.

KYRGYzSTAN: Parliament has ratified an Additional Protocol to an agreement between Kyrgyzstan and the IAEA on the non-prolifera-

tion of nuclear weapons. Kyrgyzstan ratified the nuclear non-prolif-eration treaty in July 1994. Economic Regulation Minister Uchkun-bek Tashbayev said the Additional Protocol would raise Kyrgyzstan’s status as a nuclear-free state and show the stability of its non-pro-liferation policy. So far, 132 countries have signed the Additional Protocol, and it is in force in 101 countries, including Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Belarus.

KYRGYzSTAN/KAzAKHSTAN: Kyrgyz member of parliament Raykan Tologonov said that coal imported from Kazakhstan for the Bish-kek heat and power plant was “highly radioactive”. Tologonov said Emergency Ministry’s experts have visited the Bishkek plant and confirmed that 8,000t of coal from Kazakhstan’s Kulan coal mine contained seven to eight times normal radiation levels. She also said the coal was of poor quality. Experts from the sanitary and epidemio-logical department of the Kyrgyz Health Ministry in charge of moni-toring radioactivity have said that it is too early to arrive at a specific conclusion. Some members of parliament have called for bringing criminal action against those who brought the coal to Bishkek, and others have proposed setting up a parliamentary commission to probe the incident.

LITHUANIA: The government has formally notified the European Commission (EC) of its plans to build a new NPP at Visaginas with Estonia, Latvia and Poland. Lithuania’s Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas said the 1,350MWe boiling water reactor would begin commercial operations around 2020. The Visaginas plant will help replace generation from the two 1,300MWe units at Ignalina shut down under Lithuania’s European Union membership agreement. In May 2010 ministers from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland signed a joint communiqué in Brussels stating their intention to work together on Visaginas and to explore financing models. An environmental impact assessment and site suitability evaluation have already been completed. The government selected GE-Hitachi as technology provider in July 2011. Under the Euratom Treaty, member states must inform the EC of newbuild plans within three months of signing supplier contracts.

MExICO: Ambitious nuclear newbuild plans have been abandoned in favour of using newly discovered natural gas reserves. Mexico had planned to build 10 new NPPs by 2028, but the discovery of “trillions of cubic feet” of gas has changed the decision, said Energy Minister Jordy Herrera. Mexico now will seek about $10bn over five years to expand its natural gas pipeline, he said. Petroleos Mexicanos dis-covered new gas deposits in the Gulf of Mexico and shale gas in the border state of Coahuila. Mexico had been considering using nuclear power as the major component of plans to boost capacity by 75% to 86GWe within 15 years, up from about 50GWe. Herrera said the Energy Ministry plans to update Mexico’s long-term strategic plan by the first quarter of 2012. “Until we find a model to make renewable energy more profitable, gas is more convenient,” he said.

POLAND/FRANCE: French company AREVA said it would form a con-sortium to bid on construction of Poland’s first NPP, with consortium partners to be selected by January 2012. Electricite de France (EDF) is likely to be a key member of the team, according to Adam Roz-wadowski, CEO of AREVA Polska. Poland expects to issue the tender for its first NPP by the end of the year. Poland plans to build two

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3,000MWe NPPs, with the first to go into operation by 2020.

RUSSIA/CHINA: The Volgodonsk Branch of Russia’s National Research Nuclear University Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (NRNU MEPHI) and China’s Changchun University of Science and Technol-ogy have signed a cooperation agreement on training specialists for the nuclear industries of both countries. Signing came during a visit to Volgodonsk. A Chinese delegation observed a training simulation of an accident based on Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster. The par-ties agreed to develop joint staff training programmes, conduct joint research aimed at enhancing training of specialists, organise student internships, and exchange lecturers and students.

RUSSIA/CHINA: Russia intends to increase nuclear cooperation with China based on the latest technology, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said. “Drawing upon the successful experience of the construction of the Tianwan nuclear power plant, we are going to develop closer cooperation in nuclear energy, and it will be based on the world’s very latest technology, and take possible risks into account - we are going to virtually reduce these risks to zero,” Putin said in October, following talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.He added that China and Russia would use the yuan and the rouble more widely in trade transactions and in mutual investment as “insurance against many of today’s risks”. An agreement on construction of a Russia-designed fast neutron reactor BN-800 in China may be signed in 2012, according to state nuclear corporation Rosatom head Sergei Kirienko. A work commencement protocol to build the fast neutron reactor in China was signed in October 2009, Kirienko noted, but the contract cannot be implemented until an inter-governmental agreement is in place, which is now being drafted.

RUSSIA/NEA: has joined the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Foreign Ministry, nuclear regulator Rostechnadzor and state nuclear corporation Rosatom will represent Russia in NEA, a specialised agency within the OECD, that helps members to maintain and develop the scientific, technological and legal bases required for the safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear power through international co-operation. Membership includes 30 industrialised countries from Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region.

TAIwAN/CHINA: Mainland China and Taiwan signed an agreement on cross-strait cooperation on nuclear power safety. The agreement calls for the two sides to cooperate and hold technical exchanges on safety regulations and standards, analysis and evaluation of experiences, ba-sic NPP information, management of ageing NPPs, emergency report-ing, radiation monitoring near NPPs, and information transparency. Both parties will organise their own nuclear power safety work teams and launch their first meeting within two months to discuss informa-tion sharing and exchange programmes. Analysts expect the agree-ment to boost cross-strait cooperation on nuclear safety monitoring and to pave the way for a joint information reporting system.

UK: The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has added a new team with regulatory responsibility for the transportation of radioactive material. Formerly part of the Department for Transport (DfT), the Radioactive Materials Transport Team (RMTT) regulates the transport

of radioactive material by road and rail in Great Britain. They also ad-vise on its transport by and sea and air within the UK, including trans-port to and from licenced nuclear sites and non-nuclear sectors such as hospitals and education establishments. The move follows legislative changes allowing for the transfer of competent authority powers from the Secretary of State for Transport to the Secretary of Sate for Energy and Climate Change. RMTT’s transfer also marks another milestone in ONR’s transformation into a single, integrated regulator.

UK: Public exposure from authorised radioactive discharges and direct radiation around the 39 UK nuclear sites has remained within legal limits and radioactivity in food is “well within safe levels”, according to a report on Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) 2010. RIFE 2010 is the ninth joint annual report combining the results of the radiological monitoring programmes of the Food Standards Agency, the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environ-ment Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. RIFE 2010 found that public radiation doses from all sources at UK nuclear facilities were less than 5% of the European Union (EU) and UK dose limit of 1mSv/year for members of the public. Discharges, environmental concentrations and dose rates in 2010 were broadly similar to those in 2009, although concentrations of radiocaesium and transuranic elements were increased around some sites, mainly due to discharges from Sellafield in Cumbria.Sellafield doses were 0.18 mSv, mainly due to permitted discharges.

UK: A report from the UK Royal Society says the increasing use of nuclear power worldwide must be accompanied by a greater focus on security and waste management. Noting the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the report, Fuel Cycle Stew-ardship in a Nuclear Renaissance (available at www.royalsociety.org) called for establishment of a World Nuclear Forum. This would enable business leaders and governments to explore nuclear power development and related non-proliferation and nuclear security re-sponsibilities. The report suggests that the forum could be proposed at a 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea. The report looks at ways of making the nuclear fuel cycle more secure and prolifera-tion resistant. The report says UK plans for a new generation of NPPs are “short-sighted”, and urges the government to avoid burdening future generations with a legacy of spent fuel. It called for construc-tion of a new mixed oxide (mox) fuel plant. The UK’s only mox plant, at Sellafield, closed in August.

US: In the wake of an August 5.8 magnitude earthquake, Domin-ion Virginia Power has said that it will launch a new study of how a proposed new build NPP at its North Anna site would handle a large earthquake. The company is considering building a third unit at North Anna. Dominion officials say the new study is needed for two reasons: federal regulators will want all proposed new reactors to consider new seismic standards being developed for existing nuclear units, and the ground vibrations during the mid August quake exceeded standards in the site permit and licencing applications for North Anna-3. Plant officials said they did not expect the new study would affect the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s schedule to act on the North Anna-3 licence application.

US: Mayors of two Florida cities, South Miami and Pinecrest, are lead-ing a campaign to repeal the state law that allows utilities to charge

General Development


customers for planned nuclear power plants (NPPs) before the plants are built or in operation. South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard and Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner urged repeal of the law, and opposed $337m in nuclear fees proposed for 2012. The state Public Service Commission will consider the proposal. Florida Power & Light Co seeks $196m and Progress Energy Florida wants $141m. Stoddard con-tends consumers are being charged for unproven nuclear designs that will double the price of electricity. Biscayne Park and the Miami-Dade League of Cities also have passed resolutions opposing the fees.

US: Nuclear power is the most important form of clean energy, former US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Todd Whitman told the Governor’s Conference on Energy in Rich-mond, Virginia. She said the nuclear industry was “extremely safe” and Americans would need clean, cost-effective energy sources. Whitman, a former governor of the state of New Jersey, served as EPA administrator from 2001 until 2003 under former US President George W Bush. She currently co-chairs the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, which promotes the use of nuclear energy.

US: The governor of New York State and the mayor of New York City are at loggerheads over the fate of the Indian Point NPP about 55km from downtown Manhattan. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a former state attor-ney general, wants to close the ageing plant, which has applied for a 20-year licence extension. He says the safety risks are not worth the power benefits. He notes that more than 20m people live within 80km of the NPP, which would make evacuation impossible in the event of a Fuku-shima-type accident. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, however, says closing the plant would result in “enormous blackouts”, since the plant accounts for about 25% of the area’s electricity. Meanwhile, plant owner Entergy has hired former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a paid celebrity spokesman. In a series of television commercials Giuliani says Entergy has spent $1bn on safety and equipment enhancements at Indian Point to ensure the plant can operate safely.

US: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has certified an amended version of the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) de-sign, clearing the way for it to be referenced in a construction and op-erating licence (COL) application for the South Texas Project (STP), and for other US sites. GE and Toshiba partnered on the ABWR de-sign, which they built jointly in Japan in cooperation with Hitachi. In 1997, NRC certified the design, which included certain proprietary engineering belonging to the merged GE-Hitachi Nuclear business. Toshiba developed its own variant on the certified ABWR design for construction at STP-3 and -4. The Toshiba ABWR design was submit-ted to NRC in June 2009, and thus had to meet new aircraft impact rules that NRC had issued in March 2009. NRC approved the design certification in October. STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) and then partner NRG applied for a COL for two new units at STP in 2007, and in 2008 selected the ABWR and chose Toshiba as lead contractor. STP-3 and -4 would be the first US ABWRs.

wANO: The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) General Assembly in October elected Vladimir Asmolov, First Deputy Direc-tor General of Russian nuclear utility Rosenergoatom, as President for another two-year period. Yevgeny Romanov, Director General of the utility, was elected to WANO’s Main Governing Board. The 2011 General Assembly focused on reforming WANO. In March, an

unscheduled extraordinary session of the Main Governing Board de-cided to set up a committee to study lessons from Japan’s Fukushima accident and to work out recommendations for reforming WANO. The committee produced five recommendations. These called for broadening WANO programmes in emergency response; implemen-tation of a global modern strategy of general corporate response to events in the nuclear industry; enhancement of peer review results; winning public confidence through greater openness; and enhance-ment of self-improvement.

NEwbUILD

Finland’s EPR may face more delaysFINNISH PLANT OPERATOR Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) has said commercial operation of Olkiluoto-3 in Finland could be delayed a year until 2014. TVO said in a statement that construction of the European pressurised water reactor (EPR) unit has proceeded “in several areas”, but based on the latest progress information submitted by plant suppli-er AREVA-Siemens, regular operation “may be postponed until 2014”.

TVO said AREVA-Siemens is responsible for the schedule and that TVO has asked the supplier for an analysis of the anticipated date for the start of regular operation.

The main civil construction at the site is complete, primary com-ponent installations are close to completion, TVO said. However, TVO’s statement said AREVA-Siemens has noted a further delay in development of the instrumentation and control (I&C) system, which has become critical for the time schedule.

Reactor plant piping and electrical installation works also have taken longer than expected, and the accumulated delays will impact the start of commissioning, TVO said. In December 2010 AREVA de-nied rumours in the French media that Olkiluoto-3 was experiencing delays. At that time, AREVA said it was it was keeping to the schedule announced in June 2010: the unit would be connected to the grid in 2013, following completion of construction and fuel loading in 2012.

Oursel “surprised”Following TVO’s latest statement, AREVA CEO Luc Oursel told the European press that he was surprised by the predicted changes. He said that under the current schedule, fuel would be loaded as planned in late 2012. Olkiluoto-3 is the first AREVA EPR to be built. The 2005 construction start was followed by several delays resulting from problems with concrete and plant components.

The AREVA-Siemens consortium said it was working with TVO to have a consolidated schedule for the remaining tasks at Olkiluoto-3 by the end of the year. The consolidated schedule would give the partners “a clear, detailed view”, of the tasks that still need to be performed to commission the reactor, the consortium statement said. AREVA-Siemens said the project is 80% complete, including finalisation of civil engineering work, completion of the outer dome and the full installation of the four primary cooling systems.

Flamanville-3 welding resumesThe EPR under construction at France’s Flamanvilled NPP has also been facing some problems, but work is now resuming. France’s nuclear regu-lator, Autorite de Surete Nucleaire (ASN), has approved AREVA’s request

General Development > Newbuild


to restart vessel head welding operations on the Flamanville-3 unit. Work was interrupted after quality control inspections found

“discrepancies” in the welds, said an AREVA statement, which also said the client, Electricite de France (EDF), had been informed of the problem. AREVA said it had developed technical solutions for restor-ing compliance in accordance with ASN safety standards.

Future operations at Flamanville-3 will be subject to increased oversight by both AREVA and ASN. Flamanville-3, the first new nuclear power plant in France in 15 years, is scheduled to begin com-mercial operation in 2016.

New projects move forward in ChinaCHINA HAS SUCCESSFULLY completed cold tests of the nuclear island of Hongyanhe-1, located in the Liaoning province in northeast China.

Cold testing is conducted after the completion of construction and equipment installation. It involves checking the nuclear island main equipment and systems to verify the integrity of nuclear safety systems. Further tests will be conducted to check the operation of equipment and instrumentation under normal working conditions, prior to commissioning the reactor.

Hongyanhe-1 is the first of four indigenous CPR1000 units that are being built at the site. Construction began in August 2007.

Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co (HNPC) will own and operate the nuclear power plant (NPP). HNPC is a joint venture between China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) and China Power Investment Corporation (CPIC), with each hold-ing a 45% stake. Dalian Construction Investment Group holds the remaining 10%. Hongyanhe-1 is scheduled to begin commercial operation by the end of 2012.

Dome placed on first EPRThe reactor building dome has been lowered into place on the first European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) unit under construction at the Taishan NPP in Guangdong province, said China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation (CNECC), which is building the plant.

The dome has a circumference of 147 metres and weighs 270t. A crane lifted the dome 70 metres above the ground, then lowered it onto the 44 metre high reactor building. CNECC said it was the larg-est reactor-building dome to be lifted in the world.

Taishan-1 and -2 are China’s first two reactors based on AREVA’s EPR design. They are part of €8bn contract signed by AREVA and the Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPC) in November 2007. Taishan, 140km from Hong Kong, is owned by the Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company, a joint venture between France’s Electricite de France (EDF) with a 30% stake and CGNPC with a 70% stake.

Qinshan II-4 fuel loading completeChina National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has completed fuel loading on the fourth reactor of phase 2 of the Qinshan NPP in Zhejiang province. Fuel loading on the CNP-600 design pressurised water reactor (PWR) lasted approximately 45 hours. The next stage in commissioning Qinshan II-4 will be the first criticality. When the

reactor is connected to the grid in 2012, it will become China’s 15th operating power reactor.

Qinshan II already hosts three operating CNP-600s, an indig-enous Chinese reactor design. Units 1 and 2 began operating in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Unit 3 entered commercial operation in October 2010.

Qinshan phase 1 saw construction the first indigenously de-signed Chinese reactor, a 300MWe PWR start in 1985. Phase 3 con-sists of two 750MWe pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) supplied by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) and commis-sioned in 2002 and 2003.

China signs Tianwan II contractTwO CHINA NATIONAL Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) subsidiar-ies have signed the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the second phase of the Tianwan nuclear power plant (NPP). Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation (JNPC) and China Nuclear Power Engineering Company (CNPE) signed the contract for design and supply of the non-nuclear components and equip-ment in mid October.

Tianwan Phase II, units 3 and 4, like Tianwan Phase I, will com-prise two Russian-designed 1,060MWe VVER-1000 pressurised wa-ter reactors. Russia’s Atomstroyexport (ASE) will supply the nuclear islands for the new units.

China has not disclosed a planned construction start date. In response to the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan, the Chinese government said that it would not issue permits for new reac-tors until a new national nuclear safety regime had been phased in, expected by the end of 2011. Plant approvals are expected to restart in 2012.

China signed the preliminary agreement with ASE in October 2006 for construction of Tianwan II at Lianyungang city in China’s Jiangsu province. Construction originally was planned to start when the first two units were commissioned, however this has been de-layed by several years. A general contract, agreed in November 2010, came into force after the June 2011 signing of a final agreement that defined commercial terms and payment details.

China wants to speed up workASE is now discussing a possibility of accelerating work on Tianwan II, says ASE President Alexander Glukhov. He adds that China wants to shift first concrete, which was planned for the end of 2012, to the beginning of 2012 and has already allocated funds for this. However, ASE says this will not be possible. “If this issue had been raised at least eight months ago, we would have reconfigured and, perhaps, could have managed this,” Glukhov says noting negotiations were continuing and that “some acceleration” might be agreed such as moving first concrete to mid-2012.

Because the region is in urgent need of electrical power, construc-tion of Tianwan III, units 5 and 6, could begin before construction starts on Phase II. CNPE and JNPC signed an EPC contract for Phase III in February, with CNPE acting as the project contractor. Units 5 and 6 could be either Russian-supplied VVER-1200 reactors or Chi-nese-designed CPR-1000 units.

Newbuild


US watts bar-� revises managementTENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY (TVA) in mid October said it was revising management of the effort to complete the partially built Watts Bar-2 nuclear power plant (NPP) in Tennessee. Changes included revised agreements with major contractors and the layoff of 800 contract workers, including some 600 craft workers and 200 support staff, most ly with contractors Bechtel Power Corporation or Day & Zimmerman. Watts Bar Unit 2 Vice President Dave Stinson said TVA was also changing its contract with Bechtel to improve work performance. Mike Skaggs, TVA Senior Vice President for nuclear generation, development and construction, said the pace of construction had been slower than originally planned for the aggres-sive five-year project.

Bechtel’s original contract included engineering, procurement, and construction. TVA will now be taking greater responsibility for overall management and is leading the project controls and project management leaving Bechtel and other contractors responsible for some technical aspects. Skaggs said TVA was conducting a detailed schedule and cost review to optimise resources.TVA decided to complete construction of 1,180MWe Watts Bar-2 in August 2007, following detailed studies of energy needs, schedule, costs, environ-mental impacts, and financial risks. The utility expects to complete the $2.5bn Watts Bar-2 by 2013, making it the first new reactor to start up in the US since Watts Bar-1 began operating in 1996.

In October, Texas-based Global Power Equipment Group an-nounced that Williams Plant Services, a division of Global’s Williams Industrial Services Group, had won a $27m contract for indirect support services to TVA for the startup of Watts Bar-2. Williams will provide support services to assist TVA in the final phase of comple-tion. The contract will run to the third quarter of 2012.

US Vogtle newbuild under budgetATLANTA-bASED GEORGIA POwER said it was slightly under its approved budget on the $14bn newbuild project for two Toshiba Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant (NPP) near Augusta.

Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, has applied for a construction and operating licence (COL) from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). If approved, it would be the first US NPP to get a construction licence in more than 30 years. Southern Company says NRC could issue COLs for the units either late this year or early in 2012.

In its latest cost estimate in a semi-annual report to the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC), Georgia Power estimates its share of the project at $18m less than the previously approved $6.1bn. GPSC must now decide whether to approve the company’s spending for the first half of 2011. Georgia regulators changed the way they monitor construction spending after Georgia Power experienced massive costs overruns in building the first two Vogtle units. The utility originally estimated the NPP would cost $660m, but costs reached $9bn by the time the reactors came on line in 1987 and 1989.

In its report, Georgia Power said it had increased spending on labour so it could give more attention to quality and regulatory

compliance, project oversight and readiness. It had also experienced issues with site preparation work and pre-construction costs, but did not provide details. Georgia Power said it was closely monitoring manufacturing and vendor issues. Many analysts view Vogtle as a test of whether the US nuclear industry can build new reactors on time and on budget. President Barack Obama’s administration has pledged $8.33bn in federal loan guarantees to finance the plant.

Environmental group, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), said in mid October that it would return to court in efforts to compel the Department of Energy (DOE) to reveal additional details about the loan guarantee.

The group’s attorney Mindy Goldstein said SACE wanted to know the terms and conditions of the loan guarantees, and the credit subsidy fee estimate (the amount the power companies have to put down to get the loan guarantees). SACE filed a federal Freedom of In-formation Act request for details on the loan guarantees in 2010, but says it received only heavily redacted documents that did not include the desired information. DOE and Southern Company say some of the information the group seeks is proprietary.

Georgia Power owns a 45.7% stake in Vogtle, Oglethorpe Power Corporation 30%, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia 22.7%, and Dalton Utilities 1.6%. Plant owners want to use the loan guarantees to build two additional reactor units at the Burke county site, which cur-rently hosts two pressurised water reactors. They hope to have Vogtle-3 on line by 2016 and Vogtle-4 by 2017, at an estimated cost of $14.5bn.

Russia’s baltic NPP still seeking investorsCONTRACTS ON INVESTING in construction of Russia’s Baltic nuclear power plant (NPP), being built in Kaliningrad, will be signed in mid 2012, according to Sergei Boyarkin, Director of engineering project management programmes at state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

When the plant is completed in 2018, half of the electricity pro-duced will be exported, mainly to Lithuania which now buys more than 1GWe of electricity from Russia.

Poland and Germany are also expressing interest, he said. “We are negotiating with companies from these countries on both electricity supplies and investing in the plant with participation in its equity capital,” he noted.

“Participation in a project which costs several billion euros means serious investments even for a large company, therefore, the negotia-tions are taking a long time,” he explained. Rosatom hopes to obtain a construction licence for the plant before the end of November and work will then start on unit 1 immediately.

However, outside investors are wary. Polish power company Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) has rejected Russia’s offer to participate in the construction and operation of the Baltic NPP. Rosatom and Inter RAO have spent months trying to persuade German firms and PGE to become co-shareholders in the plant.

PGE CEO Tomasz Zadroga says PGE is only interested in buying electricity. “This is the only option that interests us,” he told Rzecz-pospolita. For PGE, which is preparing its own nuclear project, there is no economic justification for investing its capital abroad.

It seems increasingly possible that Poland may also pull out of par-ticipation in the NPP being built in Lithuania. Rzeczpospolita’s says

Newbuild


the current talks with Russia on contracting energy supplies are at a preliminary stage, noting that at present there is no suitable energy connection with Kaliningrad.

Progress continues at Russian NPPsTHE COOLING TOwER of unit 1 at Novovoronezh nuclear power plant phase two (NNPP-II) has reached an elevation of more than 100 metres, says chief architect and principal construction contractor Atomenergoproekt (AEP).

At NNPP-II only one 171-metre cooling tower is being built to serve two reactors to save capital costs, reduce in-house electricity consumption and land use, while observing all technology and safety requirements, the company emphasises.

Work is also underway to assemble the metal structures of the dome which consists of two parts and weighs about 400t. In the turbine hall the foundation is being built for the turbine.

Petrozavodskmash, part of Atomenergomash, has produced the first of 16 passive core flooding systems (PCFS) for NNPP-II. The company is making eight for each reactor and the first batch of eight will be produced before the end of this year. Petrozavodskmash has also manufactured and shipped off six of 16 pipe spools for the plant.

AEP plans to halve the time needed to make and install reinforced bar blocks. This is one of two pilot projects being implemented under the Rosatom Production System programme aimed at improving effi-ciency within the nuclear industry (see Business).

The other pilot project is to halve the time needed for concreting of the inner containment at unit 2. This year the aim is to shorten the period for making rebar blocks from 60 to 30 days; their instal-lation from 90 to 40 days, and tier concreting from 12 to 6 days. Construction of Novovoronezh II started in 2007. Unit 1 is due for commissioning in 2013 and unit 2 in 2015.

Construction restarts at Leningrad IIThe Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service (Rostechnadzor) has renewed the construction licence for St Petersburg Atomenergoproekt (SPb AEP) to continue work on Lenin-grad NPP phase two (LNPP-II).

The regulator also issued a notice affirming that SPB AEP “is ready to continue construction in accordance with safety and reliability requirements”. The construction licence was suspended in Septem-ber because of an earlier incident at the site involving collapse of the rebar cage of the outer containment of unit 1.

SPb AEP said de-installation of the collapsed cage, examination of concrete and restoration of the outer containment structures would not affect the construction schedule and work at the other 71 facili-ties at LNPP-II “will be carried out routinely”. In parallel, the inner part of the containment will be built.

In October acceptance tests were completed of the operator’s simulator at LNPP-II’s training centre. The equipment is an upgraded full-scale simulator (FSS) of the main control room of units 3 and 4.

The FSS upgrades started in 2007 under a modernisation programme for LNPP-II when new reactor control and safety systems were introduced. The American GSE Power System with Russia’s Kurchatov Institute and Elektropult works took part in

the project. The FSS upgrades were funded from an investment programme worth more than RUB17bn ($547m).

PLANT OPERATIONS

UK Oldbury NPP to closeTHE UK’S MAGNOx Ltd plans to shut down the Oldbury-1 nuclear power plant (NPP) in February, 10 months ahead of schedule. Mag-nox Ltd said further operation of the 44-year old Magnox reactor was no longer economically viable.

The 217MWe reactor is the only one operating at the site. Magnox Ltd said the decision to close the reactor early came after discussions with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which owns the site, and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

The Oldbury reactor was one of the first generation of advanced gas-cooled, graphite moderated (AGR) reactors in the UK. Originally, both units at Oldbury were scheduled to be closed at the end of 2008. However, NDA requested permission from the regulator to continue operating them to earn revenue to help pay for decommissioning.

Unit 2 was shut in June, but unit 1 was expected to operate until the end of 2012. Magnox noted that the extended operation beyond 2008 was worth an estimated £300m ($478m) to the British tax-payer and saved 6mt of carbon from being released. Mark Lesinski, NDA Executive Director for Delivery, said that the income from elec-tricity sales has provided an important contribution to the funding of NDA’s decommissioning programme.

Current plans call for removal of fuel from both Oldbury units by 2013. After most of the structures at Oldbury have been removed, the site will enter the ‘care and maintenance’ stage of decommis-sioning around 2027, after which the reactor is left to cool. Final site clearance activities are scheduled between 2092 and 2101. The two 490MWe reactors at the Wylfa site are the last two operating Mag-nox reactors in the UK. Both will close at the end of 2012.

Prospect trade union congratulated staff at Oldbury for a 44-year unblemished safety record. Prospect National Secretary Mike Gra-ham said the union recognised that the decision to bring forward the closure date of the plant was made purely on financial grounds. He said defuelling and decommissioning of the plant would continue to require the services of Oldbury’s skilled staff, as would the antici-pated newbuild NPP at the site, known as Oldbury B.

Plant operation briefsCANADA: NB Power in Canada’s New Brunswick province has installed 79% of the 380 new fuel channels for refurbishment of Atlantic Canada’s only NPP, Point Lepreau. Refurbishment is running three years behind schedule and more than $1bn over budget. NB Power has applied for a five-year operating licence renewal from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Public hearings will run through December.

FINLAND: Utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) has begun operating a full scope simulator of its Olkiluoto NPP unit 3 (OL3), a European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) now under construction. The simulator, delivered, installed and commissioned by Canada-based L-3 MAPPS in cooperation with France’s AREVA, will be used to sup-port training exercises. An AREVA-Siemens consortium is building

Newbuild > Plant Operations


OL-3 for TVO. The reactor is about 80% complete. L-3 MAPPS said the OL3 full scope simulator is the first for an EPR plant. In coopera-tion with AREVA, L-3 MAPPS delivered, installed and commissioned the simulator in early July 2011. Michael Chatlani, Vice President of L-3 MAPPS Power Systems and Simulation, said that new simulator marked “a significant breakthrough” in NPP simulation.

RUSSIA: In mid October, unit 3 at Kalinin NPP shut down for sched-uled maintenance and to shift the plant to an 18-month fuel cycle. Vitaly Trutnev, Kalinin Deputy Chief Engineer for maintenance and repair, said the 18-month fuel cycle would change the reactor’s repair and maintenance cycle from once a year, to once every 18 months. Work during the scheduled maintenance includes: disassembling the reactor, refuelling, reassembly of the reactor; in-service inspection of metal; major overhaul of the No. 2 and 3 reactor cooling pumps; turbine and generator repairs; and upgrading a low pressure heater. Kalinin-3 is a VVER-1000 reactor commissioned in December 2004.

RUSSIA: The three-unit Smolensk NPP has generated 500TWh since it was commissioned in 1982. All three reactors are operating, with a total capacity of 3,070MWe. The reactors are uranium-graphite channel-type RBMK-1000 reactors commissioned in 1982, 1985 and 1990. The NPP provides about 20TWh/year to the national grid, about 13% of Russia’s total nuclear electricity and more than 80% of the electricity produced in Smolensk region. Significant upgrades on unit 1 were carried out in 2010 to extend its service life.

SPAIN/US: Spain’s Iberdrola and Nuclenor have awarded GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) multi-year service contracts to help ensure the long-term reliability, availability and safe operation of the Cofr-entes and Santa María de Garona nuclear power plants (NPPs). The six-year, multi-cycle service contract, which can be extended to 10 years, calls for GEH to provide a wide range of outage and refuelling services, including drywell and vessel head disassembly and assem-bly, reactor pressure vessel maintenance, and visual and ultrasonic inspections. GEH and the utilities will establish a new steering committee, a leadership group, an asset management plan and an en-gineering consulting programme. GENUSA, the European BWR fuel joint venture (JV) between Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF) and Spanish nuclear fuel company ENUSA, will provide nuclear fuel reloads under a separate agreement. GNF is the GE majority-owned fuel fabrica-tion and fuel engineering services joint venture established by GE, Hitachi and Toshiba.

SUPPLY CHAIN AND EQUIPMENT

Ansaldo joins UK module partnershipANSALDO NUCLEARE, A member of Italian technology group Finmec-canica, signed a partnership agreement with UK-based Nuvia and Cammell Laird to design and build heavy modules and components for the UK’s civil nuclear new build programme.

Ansaldo Nucleare has designed major modules for the Westing-house AP1000, and is involved in the design and construction of the containment vessel at Sanmen nuclear power plant (NPP) in China. The three partners propose to build heavy modules for new build

AP1000s and AREVA EPRs, initially for the UK market. The modules will be built in an off-site, weather-protected

construction hall with sea access load-out facilities at shipbuilder Cammell Laird’s shipyard in Birkenhead on the River Mersey near Liverpool. The facility can handle modules weighing up to 5,000t.

A Cammell Laird statement said that the principle advantages of this innovative approach was the ability to design and build larger units than previously possible in a weather protected factory envi-ronment. This will ultimately reduce construction costs, improve quality, safety and delivery performance while reducing onsite con-struction content by a considerable factor, Cammell Laird said. The UK new build programme is scheduled to begin in about 18 months.

Cammell Laird initially teamed with nuclear technology supplier Nu-via in August 2010 to enter the nuclear module market. Cammell Laird CEO John Syvret said that Ansaldo Nucleare added an important new di-mension to the partnership because they have patented module designs together with operational capability and significant design capacity.

Ansaldo Nucleare has a history of collaboration with Toshiba-Westinghouse dating to 2001, when it took part in the US licencing process of the AP1000.

Equipment briefsARGENTINA/CANADA: Nucleoelectrica Argentina has awarded Can-ada’s L-3 MAPPS a contract to replace the digital control computer (DCC) system hardware at the Embalse NPP. Under the contract, L-3 MAPPS will deliver four DCC systems to Nucleoelectrica. The first system will be used as a testing and training platform and is due to be installed in early 2013. Three other redundant DCC systems for plant operations are expected to enter service in mid-2014. Cana-dian-designed CANDU reactors such as Embalse use DCC systems to monitor and control major reactor and power plant functions.

CHINA/CANADA: Canada’s L-3 MAPPS announced that a second pair of L-3 MAPPS-developed simulators for China’s indigenous CPR1000+ nuclear power plant (NPP) design have entered service at the Hon-gyanhe Nuclear Power Training Centre. The first of the two simu-lators, which was developed for units 3 and 4, was handed over to Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co (LHNP) in November 2010, and the other, for units 1 and 2, in March 2011. The new simula-tor set was deployed after extensive testing, and will be updated as L-3 MAPPS receives information on upgrades to the digital control system. Earlier, L-3 MAPPS provided high-performance simulators for China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company’s (CGNPC) Daya Bay, Ling Ao and Ling Ao Phase II sites. The first three full-scope simula-tors are being used for operator training six shifts per day with an availability of 99.8%.

CzECH Republic, Slovakia/Russia: Arako spol, a Czech-based unit of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom’s machinery division Atomenergomash has won a contract to supply components to the Slovak Mochovce NPP (owned by Italy’s Enel). The contract is worth €20m ($27.4m), according to Arako General Director Rovsan Abbasov. Enel is currently expanding Mochovce NPP, operated by its Slovak unit Slovenske Elektrarne. Arako, based in the north-eastern Czech town of Opava, is a maker of industrial valves and high-pressure valve fittings used in energy and nuclear power engineering. Arako,

Plant Operations > Supply Chain and Equipment


part of Atomenergomash, hopes to have a 50% of orders for valves intended for NPPs planned or being built in Russia. Before the end of 2012, Arako plans to double manufacturing of valves for NPPs from 1,200 up to 2,400 items a year.

RUSSIA: The Alstom-Atomenergomash (AA) joint venture (JV) will make a final decision on a Russian site for turbine manufacture by the end of the year. Originally AA planned to use a site in ZiO-Podolsk, but now is also considering a site in Petrozavodskmash, according to AA Director-General Alexander Tsvetkov. “We are optimising our production sites to tailor them to individual equip-ment components,” he said, adding that selection of a location would depend on economic parameters. Financing of company activities is linked to a phased increase in production capability, Tsvetkov said. Possibly at the first stage, financial support will be from internal investments by the JV founders, followed by funding from external investors. AA is involved in the VVER-TOI NPP design work and is implementing a project to supply backup power to the Leningrad II NPP. Rosatom also signed an order on AA participation in the Ak-kuyu NPP project in Turkey.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE: Russia’s Atomenergomash and Ukrainian utility Energoatom signed a memorandum on cooperation on power equip-ment manufacture; organisation of equipment supplies for NPPs with the possibility of one or more Ukrainian production sites; and servicing nuclear power equipment in Ukraine. The memorandum is intended to help broaden the supply of machine engineering prod-ucts in Russia and Ukraine, and facilitate safety enhancements for newbuild NPPs and plants undergoing life extension retrofits.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE: Kharkov-based Turboatom has signed a contract for equipment supplies for unit 5 at Russia’s Novovoronezh NPP. Ukraine’s Turboatoom will produce two modular condensers with stainless steel piping for the turbo-feeding pump of the 500MWe turbine to replace the old condensers, Delivery is set for May 2012. This is the first time Turbatom has made these products. The total weight of the condensers is about 30t. Novovoronezh-5 was Ruyssia’s first power unit with VVER-1000 reactor. Its design service life expired in 2010 but has been extended for another 25 years. The old condensers used piping made of a copper-nickel alloy which were not durable while the new condensers have their cooling tubes and periphery tube plates made of stainless steel to give a longer service life, higher economic efficiency, reliability and safety. Turboatom’s contractual obligations also include design, manufacture and supply, with follow-on, startup and adjustment, and commissioning of the equipment. The design documentation is being developed.

UKRAINE: Energomashspetsstal (EMSS), which produces custom parts for nuclear and wind power generation units, the steel industry and shipbuilding, will receive a $79m loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) to modernise its entire production complex. By upgrading its production facilities and processes, EMSS will significantly improve its operational efficiency and competitiveness, as well as reduce its energy consumption per production unit by nearly 25%, EBRD said. EMSS produces castings and forgings in special steel grades for the nuclear power industry. Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom in 2010 acquired

a controlling stake in EMSS, which became a division of Rosatom’s Atomenergomash.

SAFETY & SECURITY

US NRC approves Fukushima recommendationsTHE US NUCLEAR Regulatory Commission (NRC) in mid October di-rected the agency’s staff to begin immediately implementing seven safety recommendations from the NRC’s Near-Term Task Force on lessons learned from the reactor accident at Fukushima. The seven recommendations are among 12 comprehensive safety recommenda-tions the task force presented to the commission in July.

The NRC staff reviewed the task force’s July report and provided a proposal to the commission that selected the seven recommenda-tions as most appropriate for immediate action. The recommenda-tions cover issues including the loss of all A/C electrical power at a reactor (station blackout), reviews of seismic and flooding hazards, emergency equipment and plant staff training.

In keeping with NRC’s regulatory actions over the past few years, such as mitigation strategy requirements, the commission called on the staff to use performance-based standards in any new or revised regulations wherever possible. Performance-based requirements specify the objective or result to be attained, rather than prescribing to licensees how the objective or result is to be attained.

The commission also set an April 2014 deadline for the staff to com-plete the new station blackout rule. Commission Chairman Gregory B Jaczko said the 2014 deadline was an achievable goal, but that it would be complicated by the commission’s directive to initiate the rulemak-ing through an advance notice of rulemaking, rather than a proposed rule, which will add an extra step to the rule-making process.

In its reports to the commission in September and early October, the NRC staff endorsed virtually all of the task force recommenda-tions. The October staff review also proposed additional steps be-yond the task force recommendations, which touch on safety issues such as spent fuel storage and emergency planning.

The commission is still considering the remaining task force rec-ommendations and the additional staff recommendations.

Cracks found in US NPP containmentUS ENERGY PRODUCER FirstEnergy discovered small cracks in the 76cm-thick concrete of the containment building at its Davis-Besse nuclear power plant (NPP) in Ohio. The cracks, one of which was 9 metres long, were found by contractors hydro cutting through the containment during a $115m project to replace the reactor pressure vessel head of the 913MWe pressurised water reactor (PWR).

Davis-Besse has been plagued by serious problems for almost a decade and was shut down for more than three months in 2010 after workers discovered cooling water leaking through cracks in some reactor head nozzles. FirstEnergy was also forced to close the plant for more than two years (2002-2004) when a series of leaks led to corro-sion of the vessel head near the control rod drive mechanism that came

Supply Chain and Equipment > Safety & Security


within a fraction of an inch of eating entirely through the vessel head.In 2005, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) imposed its

largest fine ever ($5.45m) for FirstEnergy’s failure to discover the corrosion as well as attempts to deceive NRC about the problem. FirstEnergy then discovered problems with the first replacement vessel head and has now shut down the plant to install a third new reactor vessel head, three years earlier than previously planned.

At the end of October, FirstEnergy was still finding more hairline cracks in the containment. In a letter to investors, FirstEnergy said that the sub-surface cracks on the shield building did not affect structural integrity or safety, and the reactor, closed since the begin-ning of October, would restart in November.

NRC had sent a concrete materials expert to the plant to assess the cracks but said that the shield building is not part of the primary safety barrier. Cracking in its reinforced concrete is therefore not considered a safety threat and NRC permission is not needed to restart the plant.

FirstEnergy has also applied for a licence extension to operate the plant for an additional 20 years.

Sweden increases earthquake protectionNUCLEAR POwER PLANT (NPP) operators in Sweden will incorporate improvements highlighted by stress tests with a pre-existing pro-gramme to standardise safety in earthquake scenarios.

In the wake of Japan’s Fukushima accident, the European Union asked member countries with NPPs to analyse the plants’ resistance to extreme circumstances such as major natural disasters.

A statement from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) said that: “What we can already see is that some plants do not fully meet re-quirements in the case of earthquakes. Here we will need to take action.”

Jan Hanberg, SSM’s head of radiation protection who led the stress test programme in Sweden, said there were no specific earthquake requirements in the early days of the Swedish nuclear programme. Sweden relied on the intrinsic strength of each design. Of the coun-try’s 10 reactors, only Oskarshamn-3 and Forsmark-3 were licensed to specific earthquake standards.

In 2005, a new earthquake specific regulation gave operators until 2013 to ensure that existing plants met earthquake resistance re-quirements. The operators, however, had to conduct the stress tests based on plant status at the beginning of July.

According to Hanberg, the operators will continue to work toward the 2013 deadline, but might implement additional safety measures in light of what they have learned from the stress tests. Some plants, he said, could need to request an extension of the 2013 deadline to accommodate the additional work.

Safety briefsCANADA: The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) renewed for five years, through October 2016, the operating licence for the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratory. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) operates the laboratory, which is the centre of Canadian nuclear research and development. It also hosts the 54-year-old Na-

tional Research Universal (NRU) reactor, which provides 40% of the world supply of the medical isotope molybdenum-99. NRU experi-enced serious corrosion problems in 2009 that led to a shutdown of 15 months. In principle, the CNSC decision allows NRU to continue operating, but that approval depends on AECL’s ability to show that the reactor is continuing to operate safely and meeting licensed safety requirements. AECL must submit an extensive inspection report on the repaired reactor vessel in February.

CHINA/IAEA: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has signed a cooperation agreement with China on safe NPP construc-tion. The arrangement provides for stronger collaboration between IAEA and China’s International Construction Training Centre. China currently has 27 newbuild NPPs under construction.

EUROPE: The European Commission (EC) has proposed a comprehen-sive European Union (EU) radiation protection directive that would take account of workers’ exposure to both natural and artificial sources of radiation in a wide range of industries. Brussels acted on a 2007 recommendation from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), upon whose expertise Euratom legis-lation is generally based. This proposed guidance includes new detail on any exposure, whether the source of radiation is man-made or natural. If the EU Council of Ministers approves the proposals, a new directive will be crafted that lays down basic safety standards for protection from exposure to ionising radiation. Protective controls outlined in the directive would take effect when dose to workers is liable to exceed 7mSv/year. Employers would be required to keep records of employee exposure.

FINLAND: Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) have told nuclear regulator STUK that stress tests at Finland’s NPPs showed no need for any major modifications. The stress tests were part of the European Council’s reassessment of NPP safety in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima accident. In June, STUK instructed Fortum and TVO, to conduct the specific safety evaluations. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy earlier had asked STUK to undertake safety assessments. The EU stress test and the Ministry assessment essentially addressed the same safety issues. Fortum and TVO now have now submitted reports to STUK on the tests. These addressed the safety of Fortum’s Loviisa NPP and TVO’s Olkiluoto NPP in con-junction with an earthquake, flood, exceptional weather phenom-enon and a loss of cooling at either the reactor or used fuel pools. The also addressed failures of multiple safety systems, and looked at utility operations in the event of a severe accident.

JAPAN: The government has acknowledged that hackers who gained access to information from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries systems during recent cyber attacks may have obtained information about NPPs and military aircraft. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said data on nuclear reactors might have been transferred between Mitsubishi servers, but they have no evidence that it was released outside of Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi previously had reported that its computer network had come under cyber attack and 45 serv-ers and 38 computers had been infected with more than 50 comput-er viruses at 11 locations in Japan. A “Trojan horse”, a virus that can order data to be transmitted outside, was among those found. Some of the affected servers and computers had been forcibly connected to

Safety & Security


websites abroad, resulting in a loss of some data including Internet Protocol addresses. Police are investigating the attacks.Ten power companies that manage NPPs have also experienced attacks on their computer networks in the past year.

NETHERLANDS: Press reports say Netherlands is in violation of inter-national guidelines on nuclear power because its safety regulator is part of the same ministry that licenses NPPs. Nuclear safety person-nel are under the auspices of Economic Affairs Minister Maxime Verhagen, an outspoken supporter of nuclear power. The problem arose last year when the new government abolished the Environ-ment Ministry and divided up its jobs, placing both NPP licensing and safety monitoring under economic affairs. Marius Enthoven, a former Environment Ministry nuclear power expert, said it was “ex-tremely unwise” to place them both under the same ministry. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called for all nuclear safety regulators to be completely independent.

NETHERLANDS: The 485MWe Borssele NPP, Netherlands’ only nuclear plant and one of the oldest in Europe, has passed a stress test conducted at the request of the European Union (EU) after Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster. Plant Manager Jan van Cappelle said the NPP was safe but there was room to improve safety further. Borssele was built in 1973 with a design life of 40 years. However, in 2006, the government extended its life for 20 years, until 2033.

PAKISTAN: Karachi NPP (KANUPP) declared a seven-hour emer-gency after heavy water leaked from a reactor feeder pipe. Officials say there was no radiation release or damage to the reactor. The 137MWe NPP began commercial operation in 1972. It is located 24km west of Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city and commercial capi-tal, on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The plant already was shut down at the time of the leak, which began during maintenance checks. The plant is expected to resume operation in November. KANUPP reached the end of its 30-year design life in 2002, and was upgraded to extend operations. Currently, it is licenced to operate until 2015.

RUSSIA: Nuclear utility Rosenergoatom reported that one employee was injured when molten metal splashed at the Ecomet-S facility, one of the auxiliary structures at the Leningrad NPP. Rosenergoatom said Ecomet-S is a private company that is not under control of either the utility or state nuclear corporation Rosatom. The company repro-cesses low-level radioactive metal structures. The incident did not affect the operations at the NPP, Rosenergoatom said.

SwEDEN: The onsite fire brigade extinguished a turbine fire at Sweden’s Oskarshamn-2 NPP, and the fire never presented a hazard to the public or the environment, plant operator OKG confirmed in late October. An oil leak was the most likely cause of the fire. Hakan Ottosson, Production Manager at Oskarshamn-2, said he expected further investigation would show that oil came into contact with hot surfaces next to the high pressure turbine. Oskarshamn-2 was restarted in mid October after an annual maintenance outage, but power rates were unstable because of turbine vibration, a plant state-ment said. Operators decided to shut down the unit to rebalance the turbine, a routine procedure.

THAILAND/US: The National Nuclear Security Administration

(NNSA) in October completed its first pilot Weapons of Mass De-struction Commodity Identification Training (WMD-CIT) workshop at the RTC Academy in Bangkok with Royal Thai Customs (RTC) and the Royal Thai government. NNSA and RTC began joint work in 2009 on development of a comprehensive training programme for customs officers aimed at strengthening Thailand’s ability to prevent the smuggling of sensitive commodities that could be used by state proliferators or terrorists. The two-year effort has included development of a national WMD CIT course specifically tailored to the needs of Thai customs inspectors. Thai government officials will teach future iterations of the course. Thailand is the first member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to develop and implement its own national WMD-CIT course.

UKRAINE: The Superior Rada (upper house) approved a bill to estab-lish a new national commission to regulate safety at civilian nuclear facilities. The commission, which is being set up as part of the reform of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, will be given special status. Its main tasks will include: formulation and implementation of the state policy on safe use of nuclear power; safety regulation; coordination of activities of central and local authorities responsible for nuclear and radiation safety; and ensuring that Ukraine fulfils its obligations under international agreements on nuclear and radiation safety. The commission will include a chairman and four members appointed for six-year terms.

UKRAINE: Operating NPPs have submitted results of stress tests to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate (SNRI), according to nuclear utility Energoatom. Ukraine’s four NPPs (Zaporozhe, Khmelnitsky, Rovno and South Ukrainian) were told to conduct the stress tests in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi accident in March. SNRI will incorporate the reports into a state-level review of nuclear and radia-tion safety. Since April, SNRI has conducted unscheduled examina-tions of conditions of NPP buildings and structures, spent fuel pools, and outdoor switchyards. It also has analysed the reliability of in-house power supply systems and emergency reactor cooling systems.

UK: During routine operation of the plant destroying the liquid metal coolant in the Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR), drips of caustic liquor from pipework in a shielded cell were detected by the monitor-ing systems. The plant was immediately shut down and the leak isolated and stopped. There was no release of radioactivity to the environment and no harm to the workers. The Scottish Environ-ment Protection Agency, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority were all informed immediately the leak was isolated. Working with the Regulator ONR, Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) will investigate the leak The pipework will be flushed out to reduce radiation levels before workers repair the pipe. DSRL has destroyed more than three quarters of the 57t of primary liquid metal coolant in DFR, and expects to complete the job by March 2012.

US: North Anna NPP in Virginia, which has been shutdown since a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in August, leaked about 272gal of nonra-dioactive industrial water into Lake Anna in early October, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). An NRC event report said the water overflowed from a basin used to cool bearings on the plant’s main feed pumps, condensate pumps, and main generators.

Safety & Security


A leaky valve overfilled the basin, and a malfunctioning indicator alarm failed to warn of the problem. A spokesman for plant owner Dominion said the basin water contained small amounts of chlorine. He said that, while the amount of chlorine was within environmen-tal limits, because the leak pathway to the lake was not an approved discharge point, the company notified the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

US: The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) said it expects to finish the first phase of a study examining potential cancer risks for populations living near nuclear power plants (NPPs) and other nuclear facilities by early 2012. NRC requested the study. Phase 1, which is currently under way, will identify methods and approaches for how to design and conduct a study of cancer risk in populations around NRC-licenced facilities. Phase 1 will identify methodological approaches for assessing off-site radiation dose and approaches for assessing cancer methodology. The results of the Phase 1 scoping study will be used to inform the design of the cancer risk assessment to be carried out in Phase 2. The study is being carried out under the auspices of the NAS Division of Earth and Life Sciences, and the National Institute of Medicine.

URANIUM

Olympic Dam hurdlesPOLITICAL ISSUES APPEAR likely to hamper expansion of BHP Billiton’s (BHPB’s) $30bn Olympic Dam mine in South Australia (SA). Minority parties in the SA parliament want BHPB to appear before a parliamentary inquiry to discuss the indenture arrangement it signed with former Treasurer and Premier Mike Rann.

The arrangement, which runs up to 70 years, fixes BHPB’s royalties at 5% for uranium and 3.5% for other minerals for the first 45 years. The Greens have contested the arrangement, saying it is too much of an exemption offer for BHPB. However, the SA government has said the 45-year term fixed rate would bring in $350m/y in revenue once the mine is fully operational.

SA Greens forerunner Mark Parnell wants a thorough analysis of the mine by a select committee of scientific experts and BHPB ex-ecutives. Rann, who left office in October, wants parliament to fast track approval of the bill to facilitate the start of work at the mine.

Olympic Dam, north of Adelaide, is the world’s largest known uranium deposit and fourth-largest copper and gold deposit. More than 13,000 jobs are expected once work begins and it is expected to contribute $45bn/y to Australia’s coffers and to yield about 19,000t/y of uranium.

In mid October, BHPB approved $1.2bn in pre-commitment capital to start expansion work on Olympic Dam, which analysts estimate could cost more than $30bn to develop fully. The funds will be used to buy trucks, build worker housing and for other items requiring lengthy lead times.

BHPB said it would not make a final decision to go ahead until mid-2012, after looking at the 150 environmental conditions imposed on the project by the national and SA state governments. The Rann agreement requires BHPB’s board to give its final approval for the first phase within a year.

BHPB will focus on producing commodities for market and has no intrest in further processing of uranium, says BHPB President (ura-nium) Dean Dalla Valle. Despite the Fukushima disaster, Dalla Valle

remains convinced that uranium’s prospects are good. Fukushima “was a terrible tragedy” which the nuclear industry

would “take great lessons from”, but “the long-term fundamentals for nuclear power remain,” he said. “It is still the only carbon-free, reliable baseload form of energy available to many, many countries. We still see the growth happening, especially in developing nations, especially China and India.”

However, Dalla Valle said BHPB would only sell uranium to coun-tries with bilateral agreements with Australia - a situation which now excludes India.

Mixed results for PaladinURANIUM OxIDE PRODUCTION at Paladin’s Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia rose steadily from July to September, bringing total produc-tion this year to more than 2.5m lbs.

Production in the third quarter (Q3) was almost 850,000 lbs, about 5% below Q2, mainly due to a six day shutdown to bring on board equipment for the phase 3 expansion.

Paladin expects production to the end of October will be more than 90% of the phase 3 nameplate target. Paladin CEO John Borshoff said that although further minor production disruptions were scheduled, production was expected to be well above phase 2 nameplate in Q4.

The phase 3 expansion at Langer Heinrich will increase production from 3.7m lbs/year to 5.2m lbs/year. The expansion is 99% complete. The Q3 drop in production, even in the wake of record sales, led to a 5% drop in Paladin’s share price.

Borshoff said Langer Heinrich and Kayelekera, Paladin’s mine in Ma-lawi, reported record sales of more than 2m lbs of uranium oxide in Q3, with revenue of $102.7m, representing an average price of $51.33/lb.

Spot prices continue to languish in the wake of Japan’s Fuku-shima accident, he said. This has negatively affected the average sales price by a further $5/lb from Paladin’s internal forecast, and is impacting financial returns.

bannerman takeover faltersAUSTRALIAN URANIUM HOPEFUL Bannerman Resources said that it was looking to other suitors as an A$143.5m ($149.2m) bid from China’s Hanlong Mining continues to drag after a financier called for further due diligence.

Bannerman said it will now focus on existing discussions with other unnamed parties regarding alternative corporate arrange-ments and the development of joint ventures.

It also has advised Hanlong that it would be willing to consider a more definite proposal. However, a Bannerman statement to the Australian Securities Exchange said it was “unlikely” that Ban-nerman would know whether Hanlong was in a position to enter into a binding agreement within a timeframe that would meet the expectations of Bannerman’s shareholders and other stakeholders, including the Namibian government.

Bannerman has interests in two uranium properties in Namibia. In July, it received a conditional takeover proposal from Hanlong, and said in September that the due diligence investigations were well progressed.

Safety & Security > Uranium


However, in recent negotiations, Bannerman was informed that China Development Bank, which was to finance Hanlong’s offer, required greater certainty regarding the timing and conditions of a mining licence. Bannerman’s key asset is its 80%-owned Etango project, southwest of Rio Tinto’s producing Rossing uranium mine.

Both Bannerman and Australia’s Sundance Resources had pushed ahead with takeover negotiations with Hanlong despite an investiga-tion by the Australian Securities and Investments Commissions into suspected insider trading by former Hanlong executives.

In October, Sundance said Hanlong saw no reason why it would not secure regulatory approval for its takeover. Bannerman began a feasibility study at Etango in the second quarter of 2011, and aims to complete it by the end of March 2012.

As part of the study, Bannerman was investigating increasing the plant’s throughput by 33%, which would result in a 20% production increase to between 6m and 8m lbs/yr. Bannerman earlier had esti-mated production at 5-7m lbs/yr.

Forsys gains 100% of Namibian projectCANADIAN bASED MINER Forsys Metals Corp has entered into a purchase agreement with Etherlin Management Corp that will allow Forsys to acquire from Etherlin its indirect 30% equity interest in the Namibplaas Uranium Project in Namibia.

The acquisition is in exchange for 13m new common shares of Forsys and 2m common share purchase warrants, each warrant en-titling the holder to acquire one share at a price of C$1.10 ($1.09) for two years from the date of issue. Upon completion, Forsys will have a 100% equity interest in Namibplaas.

Forsys also announced that it has commenced the second phase of its 2011/12 drilling programme at Namibplaas with an approved budget of C$2.5m ($2.47m).

Forsys plans to have an updated compliant NI 43-101 technical report in the third quarter of 2012. CEO Marcel Hilmer said that by acquiring the remaining 30% of the project, Forsys would be able to benefit fully from the advanced exploration programme and has full control over the project consolidation assessment with the already 100% owned Valencia Uranium Project.

He expects the consolidated project will show lower capital and operating costs, and improve overall project economics. The maiden resource statement for Namibplaas released in September confirmed the project’s potential, Hilmer said.

Uranium mining controversial in TanzaniaTANzANIA’S PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE on Lands, Natural Re-sources and Environment has advised the government to suspend uranium exploration in Selous Game Reserve, which is being under-taken by Mantra Resource Tanzania.

The MPs said most Tanzanians see no benefit from the project, noting that mining in the area could have a detrimental effect on wild animals in the reserve, and could lead to a loss of tourist income.

Committee Chairman James Lembeli said that, while the project looked promising, it had proceeded in secret, making people suspi-cious and fearful. He said the government must be very clear on issues of environmental preservation and mining if it wants to pro-ceed. He called for the government to involve all stakeholders and confirm that they would share in the benefits.

Magdalena Sakaya, a committee member, complained that the ownership and names of companies exploring for uranium have been changing. She said one contract referred to Mantra Resource, Mantra Tanzania and Mantra Resource Tanzania Ltd. “How is it possible for a company to use three names in one contract”, she asked.

Sakaya also said Mantra was exploring for uranium in other parts of the reserve, indicating that it might expand its operations. The company was given 3,250km2 for exploration, but it has applied for another 300km2, for which it has done prospecting, she said.

Mantra recently applied for a licence for 100km2. “It is possible they have many areas in the reserve and they can in future mine in a bigger place destroying the ecology of the reserve,” she said.

Mantra Tanzania Limited Country Director Assah Mwaipopo has said the government believes that development of the proposed mining operation is of strategic importance to the nation and its development programme.

He said Tanzania could become the world’s eighth largest uranium producer, and the third largest in Africa based on 2009 production figures.

AREVA puts Central African mine on holdFRANCE’S AREVA IS suspending a mining project in the Central African Republic for a year or two because of a drop in uranium prices since the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan.

Work on the Bakouma mine, estimated to hold about 32,000t of uranium has been suspended until uranium prices begin rising again. A company spokesman stressed that this does not mean AREVA is abandoning the project.

Since Fukushima, the price of uranium has dropped about 30%, from about $68/lb before the accident to about $52/lb at the end of October.

AREVA Vice President in charge of mining, Sebastien de Montes-sus, has said that the company is convinced the uranium market will rebound over the next two years. He called Bakouma a promising deposit with significant potential resources.

AREVA has spent €106m ($145.9m) on developing the site since 2007, when it bought out British-Canadian company UraMin’s min-ing rights. AREVA expects to present an overall plan in November detailing its corporate strategies in the wake of Fukushima.

The Central African Republic says it will dispute the contract with AREVA if the project is frozen. “We reserve the right to dispute the contract with this company if its directors maintain their position,” Mines Director Jean-Sylvain Feigoudozoui told AFP.

Noting that the contract said drilling would start from 2010,” Feigoudozoui said: “If AREVA decides to abandon a project at this level and leave, we consider that it has already violated the terms of the clause.” The government is still waiting for official written confirmation of AREVA’s intentions.

Uranium


Slovak resource estimateCANADIAN ExPLORER TOURNIGAN Energy has announced a resource estimate for its Novoveska Huta uranium project in Slovakia, the first NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate prepared for the deposit.

Tetra Tech has reviewed, audited and approved the estimate. Results of the resource estimate at a 0.06% cutoff grade are: 3.75m lbs U3O8 in measured and indicated resources of 1.662m t grad-ing 0.102% U3O8; and an additional 12.738m lbs U3O8 in inferred resources of 4.689m t grading 0.123% U3O8.

The Novoveska Huta deposit is near the town of Spisska Nova Ves, 50km northwest of Tournigan’s high-grade Kuriskova uranium deposit.

At Kuriskova, the most recent resource estimate comprises an indicated resource of 28.5m lbs U3O8 at a grade of 0.555% U3O8 contained in 2.3mt and an additional inferred resource of 12.7m lbs U3O8 at a grade of 0.185% U3O8 contained in 3.1mt, both estimates at a 0.05% cutoff grade. Tetra Tech will complete the Kuriskova prefeasibility study in early 2012.

Tournigan’s objective at Novoveska Huta was to verify historic data collected during Slovakia’s communist period, and to find additional resources. The western part of the deposit (currently comprising the measured and indicated resource) was known before Tournigan acquired the property, but the database had not been veri-fied and underground sampling data had not been evaluated.

Tournigan’s work in the western part of the deposit verified the historical data. In addition, Tournigan included underground chan-nel sample data in the new resource estimate.

Tournigan’s exploration drilling in the eastern part of the deposit confirmed the extension of mineralisation to the east and increased the exploration potential of the deposit. The eastern block is at a higher grade than the western block and remains open to the east and north.

Colorado uranium lease programme haltedA US FEDERAL judge has halted the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) 108.8km2 uranium-leasing program that threatened the Dolores and San Miguel rivers in southwestern Colorado.

Five conservation groups had sued to halt the leasing program, charging DOE had failed to adequately protect the environment or analyse the full impacts of renewed uranium mining on public lands.

Judge William J. Martinez of the US district court for Colorado issued the 53-page ruling, which invalidates DOE’s approval of the programme; suspends its 31 existing leases; enjoins DOE from is-suing any new leases; and enjoins any further exploration, drilling or mining activity at the 43 mines approved under the programme, pending new environmental reviews under the National Environ-mental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Hilary White, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance, one of the plaintiffs, said the groups as well as local governments had been requesting the federal government “take responsible steps to disclose the full range of impacts of mining uranium on public lands in combination with the impacts from Energy Fuels’ proposed uranium mill”.

She said the ruling was an important step that will help ensure

that any uranium mining and milling in the Dolores River watershed would be protective of the environment and human health, and said the plaintiffs looked forward to the Environmental Protection Agency’s “leadership in disclosing the full impacts of uranium activ-ity in this important watershed.”

The conservation groups bringing the lawsuit charged that ura-nium mining and milling resulting from the lease programme would deplete Colorado River basin water and threaten to pollute rivers with uranium, selenium, ammonia, arsenic, molybdenum, alumi-num, barium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, vanadium and zinc.

They argued that selenium and arsenic contamination in the Colorado River basin from abandoned uranium-mining operations already have been implicated in the decline of four endangered Colo-rado River fish species.

The Colorado Environmental Coalition, Information Network for Responsible Mining, Rocky Mountain Wild, Centre for Biological Diversity and Sheep Mountain Alliance sued DOE and the Bureau of Land Management in July 2008 for approving the programme without analysing the full environmental impacts from individual uranium-mining leases spread over 20,000 acres and for failing to ensure protection of threatened and endangered species prior to authorising the programme.

DOE had refused to conduct a full environmental impact statement (EIS) analysis in 2008, instead issuing a “finding of no significant impact”(FONSI), which also was struck down as part of the court ruling.

US county backs mining moratoriumTHE bOARD OF supervisors in Patrick county, Virginia, voted in October to support a continued moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia.

The Virginia Assembly approved the legislative moratorium in 1983. The Patrick county resolution said the natural environment, including “scenic beauty, clear air and clean water”, is the county’s most important resource. It added that future economic develop-ment of the region was closely related to the region’s natural beauty and desirability as a destination for visitors and new residents.

Virginia Uranium Inc has proposed establishing one of the largest uranium mining operations in North America at Coles Hill in nearby Pittsylvania county. The Patrick county resolution said Virginia Ura-nium has stated to its investors that it will seek legislation to repeal the moratorium in the 2012 session of the Assembly.

The resolution adds that the proposed mining operations will most probably result in large quantities of highly mobile, radioactive mill tailings that must be stored in sludge ponds, and that will remain radioactive for thousands of years.

The sludge ponds or tailings pile confinement structures for dewater sludge could fail, resulting in the release of radioactive materials into surface waters and the surrounding environment, the resolution said.

It added that the Cole Hill site is in the Roanoke River Basin, which serves as a drinking water source for more than 1m people in Virginia and North Carolina.

The resolution noted that, in the past, Patrick County, along with other counties in the state, had been identified as potential uranium mining sites. More than 60 local and regional governing bodies, and

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Uranium

citizens’ groups in Virginia and North Carolina have adopted resolu-tions calling on the Assembly to keep the moratorium in place.

New Mexico licence reactivatedTHE US NUCLEAR Regulatory Commission (NRC) has reactivated Uranium Resources Inc’s (URI’s) licence to mine uranium in New Mexico using in-situ leaching (ISL) technology.

URI said the source materials licence, originally issued in 1998 to its Hydro Resources subsidiary, has been in “timely renewal status” since 2003. NRC’s reactivation of the licence will allow URI to resume uranium mining operations under its current licence conditions.

URI now will proceed to renew the licence for a standard 10-year term. The company also has resources and active uranium projects in the neighbouring state of Texas.

Under its licence, URI can produce up to 1m lbs/year (385 tU) from its Churchrock Section 8 property until a successful commercial demonstration of restoration is made, after which mining on other properties can begin and the quantity of production can be increased to 3m lbs/year (1,154 tU).

The company said it plans to complete a feasibility study by the end of the year to determine its options for advancing the Churchrock/Crownpoint project. URI says that it already has the necessary licences and permits to allow development of Churchrock Section 8, which it claims has 6.5m lbs (2,500 tU) of in-place mineralised uranium.

The feasibility study will determine the best mining method for the company’s New Mexico projects, as well as the size, design and capabilities of its Churchrock/Crownpoint ISL well field and process-ing facilities. URI plans to be in production by 2013.

UrAmerica and Cameco look to ArgentinaURAMERICA AND CAMECO Global South America have signed a strate-gic alliance to advance exploration in Argentina’s Chubut province.

UrAmerica completed a non-brokered private placement of $10m with Cameco, representing 19.9% of the equity in UrAmerica. Cam-eco purchased 11,954,579 ordinary shares of UrAmerica at $0.8365/share, giving it certain rights, including the exclusive right to acquire 70% of each deposit discovered within the mining rights currently controlled by UrAmerica in the Chubut San Jorge Basin. UrAmerica will continue to hold the remaining 30%.

Under the strategic alliance, a joint technical committee (JTC) comprised of two members each from Cameco and UrAmerica, has been set up to manage and approve the use of proceeds from Cameco’s equity investment in UrAmerica for the exploration programmes.

The JTC already has approved an initial 12-month drilling programme of 30,000 metres, focused on seven drill targets, sur-rounding and close to the National Commission of Atomic Energy’s (CNEA) Cerro Solo deposit.

Omar Adra, founder, CEO and CFO of UrAmerica, said he feels that the strategic alliance will allow UrAmerica to convert the San Jorge

Basin into a world class uranium district. The project should also benefit Argentina, which began work on its first uranium enrich-ment plant in October 2010, and began operation of its third nuclear reactor, Atucha II, in September. CNEA expects to start production at Cerro Solo in the near future.

british Columbia compensates boss PowerTHE GOVERNMENT OF Canada’s British Columbia (BC) province said it would pay C$30m ($30m) plus legal costs to Vancouver-based Boss Power Corp to compensate for the economic value of its Blizzard uranium deposit near Kelowna.

The settlement results from an April 2008 provincial decision plac-ing a “no reservation reserve” on uranium and thorium under the Min-eral Tenure Act. This meant no new claims for uranium exploration would be allowed, and existing deposits would remain undeveloped.

In October 2008, Boss Power took action in the BC Supreme Court seeking compensation for what it argued was “expropriation” of its rights and interest in the Blizzard property, namely the Blizzard 1 claim covering about 335ha and surrounding claims totalling about 1,979ha.

BC had placed a moratorium on uranium exploration in 1980, which lapsed in 1987. In April 2008, the BC government imposed a ban on uranium exploration and development. While the province took the position that regulation did not apply to Boss Power’s legacy claims, it has now admitted that it acted unlawfully in refus-ing to process a Notice of Work to enable the company to complete the remaining exploration work necessary to move into federal regulatory jurisdiction.

In March 2009, the province passed an order in council banning exploration on legacy claims such as Boss Power’s.

Uranium briefsARGENTINA/CANADA: Toronto-listed Blue Sky Uranium Corp an-nounced the discovery of surface uranium mineralisation at its Sierra Colonia project located in the central part of the Chubut province in Argentina. The project is located 96km from the Cerro Solo project where the National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA) identified in the same geological environment a historical resource of 15m lbs of contained U308. Mineralisation at Cerro Solo is found at depths ranging from 50m to 130m; whereas at Sierra Colonia it is found in outcropping. Following a surface radiometric survey, Blue Sky’s exploration team defined 12 zones over a 14km long mineralised trend.

AUSTRALIA: Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has raised $380m from institutional investors in a new share sale to extend its Ranger uranium mine. ERA, in which Rio Tinto commands a majority stake, said it sold 249m shares at $1.53 each to institu-tions in the 12 for seven accelerated renounceable entitlement offer. An ERA statement said that Rio Tinto bought its full entitlement of 68.4%. Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund construction of a brine concentrator and other water manage-ment initiatives, construction of the Ranger 3 Deeps explora-


tion decline and associated drilling, completion of evaluation studies into the development of the Ranger 3 Deeps mine and an expanded exploration programme.

AUSTRALIA: Toro Energy completed acquisition of two key uranium tenements in the Wiluna region of Western Australia (WA) from a group of vendors headed by fellow listed player, Impact Minerals. The tenements, bought for A$1.3m ($1.36) in cash and 10m shares, at 15 cents/share, increase Toro’s Wiluna uranium resource by around 25%. MD Greg Hall says Toro is working on a Joint Ore Reserves Commit-tee (JORC) compliant resource update for the Wiluna region, and the two tenements, which cover around 70% of the Nowthanna project, should constitute part of the revised consolidated resource when released this month. Hall earlier noted that Nowthanna is in the rela-tively early stages of project development, with significant potential, given its higher-grade tenor, which allows it to withstand increases in cut-off grade in the event of a higher development costs. Subject to government and board approval, Toro plans to start production at Wiluna by 2013. The project would involve mining up to 2mt/yr of mineralised ore, over a 10-year period, producing 700t/yr of uranium oxide concentrate.

CANADA: Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corporation has changed its name to Crosshair Energy Corporation to reflect its focus on the exploration and development of its North American uranium projects. Crosshair’s trading symbols: CXX on the Toronto Stock Exchange and CXZ on the NYSE Amex will remain unchanged.

JORDAN: The Jordanian French Uranium Mining Company (JFUMC), a joint venture of Jordan Energy Resources and French AREVA, announced the discovery of some 12,300t of potential uranium resources over an 18km2 area in central Jordan. JFUMC has been exploring the area since 2009, and exploration is ongoing at secondary adjacent areas, where the drilling programme will be completed by the end of the year. Based on preliminary results from this second explora-tion phase, JFUMC is confident that the overall uranium potential will exceed 20,000t. Jordan considers these resources strategic because they could enhance its future nuclear fuel supply security. Technical and economic studies will be conducted in 2012 to assess the feasibil-ity of a uranium mine within the central Jordan licence area.

KAzAKHSTAN: National nuclear company Kazatomprom may raise its uranium production to 25,000-30,000t/yr if world market demand supports the increase, said Kazatomprom Vice President Sergei Yashin. Current production stands at 20,000t - 33% of global uranium production, Yashin said. The latest forecasts show that world uranium demand will increase by half by 2030, he told the 6th Kazenergy Forum in Astana, adding that Kazakhstan was one of the few countries capable of rapidly increasing its uranium production. So far Kazakhstan has mined only 4.2% of its total uranium reserves. Kazatomprom revised the outlook for Kazakhstan’s 2011 uranium production to 19,900t. In 2010, its uranium production was 17,803t. Kazatomprom operates 21 uranium mines in Kazakhstan.

NAMIbIA: In the wake of labour unrest that has affected Namibia’s uranium mining as well as other industries, National Planning Com-mission (NPC) Director-General Tom Alweendo has called for genu-ine dialogue between employers and employees to prevent future

unrest. Speaking at the opening of the annual Namibia Agriculture Union (NAU) congress, Alweendo said Namibians should recognise that at times, what is good for those who are employed today is not necessarily in the best interest of the country’s collective future development, and that profitability at all cost is not everything. “It is, therefore, important to strike the appropriate balance between divergent views, and parties should engage each other meaningfully and with mutual trust and respect,” he advised. Local economist Emile van Zyl says the continuous increases in the cost of living and widening gap between the poor and the rich are fuelling the strikes. The National Union of Namibian Workers Secretary General Evilas-tus Kaaronda says workers cannot survive on their pay and should share in Namibia’s wealth.

PARAGUAY/US: US-based Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) entered into a property purchase agreement with three Paraguayan companies that will allow its Paraguayan subsidiary to acquire, subject to a gross overriding royalty, a 100% stake in six unencumbered prospecting permits covering approximately 740,000 acres. The permits are located in an area contiguous on the northwest, west and east of UEC’s Coronel Oviedo Project in central Paraguay, acquired in May. The latest acquisition increases UEC’s total package in Paraguay to 987,000 acres. The purchase price for the property interests is the is-sue of 100,000 restricted common shares in the capital of UEC and a cash payment of $7,500. Anschutz Corp conducted reconnaissance exploration of the acquired areas from 1976 to 1983 with eight drill holes showing uranium mineralisation. Uranium Energy also cov-ered the area in a recently completed carborne radiometric survey, which outlined several promising drilling targets.

RUSSIA: One of the miners’ rotation camps has been completed at the Khiagda site in the Republic of Buryatia as part of the preparations for the production programme for 2012. Uranium mining holding Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) said about 100 workers would live in the camp which is provided with electricity, heat and water. When phase one of the complex is completed it will accommodate up to 200 people. The Khiagda company is mining uranium using in-situ underground leaching at Khiagdinskoye ore field. ARMZ estimates Khiagda reserves at 39,337t. In 2010, uranium output totalled 135.1t. It is planned to achieve nameplate capacity in 2019 when Khiagda will mine up to 1,800t a year.

SPAIN/AUSTRALIA: Australia’s Berkeley Resources has begun the licensing and permitting process for development of the Retortillo and Santitad deposits within the Salamanca 1 uranium project in Spain. The deposits are 100%-owned by Berkeley, which intends to develop Salamanca 1 as a stand-alone project. This will be indepen-dent of its joint venture with Spanish company Enusa to resurrect production at Enusa’s deposits in the same province. Berkeley has said this will simplify the path to construction and operation of Sala-manca 1, enabling licensing and permitting to proceed through the regional government. Berkeley plans to use a biological heap leach-ing method to recover the uranium, with a preliminary feasibility study due by the end of the year. A programme to upgrade inferred to indicated resources at Retortillo and Santitad is ongoing. Berkeley expects the final estimates for its 100%-owned resources, to be pub-lished later this year, will be around 12% down on current resources of 31.7m lbs (14,380t).

Uranium


US: The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) has issued a mining permit for Ur-Energy’s Lost Creek in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium project in Sweetwater county, Wyoming. The permit authorises Ur-Energy to build and operate the Lost Creek ISR uranium mine facilities, including the first mine unit. Ur-Energy earlier had received a source and byproduct materials licence from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an aquifer exemption from the Environmen-tal Protection Agency, a class 1 underground injection control permit from WDEQ, and approval of the development plan from the Sweet-water county government. Ur-Energy needs one more permit before it can begin construction and operations: US Bureau of Land Manage-ment approval of the plan of operations. Ur-Energy is a junior uranium company engaged in the identification, acquisition, exploration and development of uranium properties in the US and Canada.

US: The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on its proposed withdrawal of 1m acres (404,600 hectares) of federal lands near the Grand Canyon National Park from hard rock mining claims for 20-years. BLM said the withdrawal would prevent individuals and companies from staking new mining claims; however, currently ap-proved mining could continue and new operations could be approved on valid existing mining claims. Up to 11 uranium mines could be operational over the next 20 years under the proposal, including the four mines currently approved. BLM Director Bob Abbey said that uranium remains an important part of US comprehensive energy resources, but stressed the need to identify the predicted level of mining and its impacts on the Grand Canyon. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will issue a final decision 30 days after the EIS release.

FUEL - ENRICHMENT TO STORAGE

USEC centrifuge plant still on holdUS ENRICHER USEC and the US Department of Energy (DOE) have agreed that a troubled centrifuge uranium enrichment project in Ohio will not be abandoned while DOE puts the company’s application for a $2bn federal loan guarantee on hold.

DOE and Bethesda, Maryland-based USEC will work jointly on a research, development and demonstration (RD&D) programme that will keep the American Centrifuge Plant project on a path to com-mercialisation, USEC officials said. Under the agreement, USEC will develop some 720 centrifuges.

The RD&D programme is expected to involve manufacturing and operat-ing additional production-design machines so that key systems can be tested as they would operate at the scale necessary for full commercialisation.

A cost sharing agreement under discussion would involve an 80-20% federal-private cost split during the initial technology verifica-tion phase and a 20-80% split for the remainder of the programme.

Congress will have to authorise the use of DOE funds, and agency spending would be capped at $300m. There is as yet no timetable for the project. USEC is working with its strategic investors to determine how best to structure on going investment in the project and move forward with this RD&D programme and future commercialisation. The company said that if an agreement is reached with DOE, further demobilisation of the trouble-plagued project would be avoided.

USEC applied for a DOE loan guarantee in July 2008, but a decision has been repeatedly delayed due to problems with the project. DOE has not yet made a final decision on the application, which will remain pending during implementation of the RD&D agreement.

However, DOE has stressed that it is not offering any assurance that the RD&D discussions will lead to either a loan guarantee or further funding of the project.

DOE in May 2010 granted the US subsidiary of France’s AREVA a conditional commitment for a $2bn guarantee for a competing enrichment project in Idaho. In a statement at the end of September, USEC said that layoffs would be likely unless DOE provided a con-ditional commitment before the beginning of November for a loan guarantee. USEC has not said whether the latest agreement would be sufficient to prevent those layoffs.

In a related action, USEC strategic investors, US-based Babcock & Wilcox Investment Company (B&W) and Japan’s Toshiba Corpora-tion, have agreed in principle to further extend a standstill agree-ment related to their investment agreement until mid January 2012, if USEC and DOE reach agreement on the framework for the RD&D programme. As part of their investment, Toshiba and B&W each have a member on USEC’s board of directors.

Russia to start reprocessing RbMK fuelFROM �013 RUSSIA’S Production Association Mayak will start repro-cessing spent nuclear fuel from RBMK reactors, according to Mayak’s Deputy Director General Sergey Kirillov.

This year, under a a pilot project, substandard RBMK fuel from unit 1 at Leningrad nuclear power plant (NPP) will be moved to Mayak and reprocessed. In 2013, Mayak will start taking RBMK spent fuel from on-site NPP storage facilities.

Initially Mayak will deal with around 50t a year “with further increases”, Kirillov said. The first fuel taken from will be Leningrad NPP followed by the Kursk and Smolensk plants.

The RT-1 plant at Mayak was initially built to reprocess spent fuel from VVER and RBMK reactors. However, until 2000 reprocessing of RBMK fuel was considered uneconomic. At that time, VVER-440 fuel was reprocessed, which had a relatively low burnup. But as burnup increased, the content of uranium-235 in spent fuel became the same as in RBMK spent fuel and reprocessing was reconsidered.

At present, 650t of substandard RBMK spent fuel is stored at NPP sites and this is expected to increase to 1,250t. In addition, standard spent fuel, for example, at Leningrad NPP’s four reactors is increas-ing each year by about 1,500 assemblies. As of the end of 2010, more than 40,000 spent fuel assemblies were stored at the Leningrad site

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Ukraine fuel plant gets local approvalPUbLIC HEARINGS ON the construction and operation of a nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Ukraine, held in Smolino village in Kirovo-grad region, have unanimously voted to approve the project.

A feasibility study will now be forwarded for review and approval

Uranium > Fuel - Enrichment to Storage


to the Ukrainian government. According to Russia’s Fuel company TVEL which won the bid for the 400t/year plant, says it will be com-missioned in three phases.

The first phase will include sections for charging fuel rods and bundling fuel assemblies, and a section for manufacture of some component parts as well as the plant infrastructure.

The second phase will include a section for making zirconium component parts and additional infrastructure. The third phase will be for production of fuel pellets and powders, and additional infra-structure. The plant will employ about 250 people. The first phase could be commissioned in 2015 and phase threee in 2020.

FC TVEL says it is ready to ensure access to financing for up to 60% of the cost of the plant’s construction which is estimated at $300-350m.

FC TVEL Vice President Vasiliy Konstantinov said the feasibility study is 90% complete. Production should start three years after the feasibility study is approved. The agreement on the construction of the plant was signed in October. Early in September a joint venture (JV) was set up with Ukraine holding a controlling stake (50% plus one The JV will also be formalised by the end of the year.

Russian fuel tests postponedHowever, Ukraine has decided to postpone operational testing of im-proved TVSA-12 nuclear fuel assemblies made by FC TVEL which was to have begun in 2012 at Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs), a source in the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry told Interfax-Ukraine.

He said a feasibility study on the use of TVSA-12 submitted by TVEL “did not show any obvious competitive advantages of the new fuel”.

In early 2011 Ukrainian nuclear utility Energoatom and TVEL forecast that the operational testing of the new fuel would start in 2012. It was expected that a pilot batch of 42 test assemblies would be loaded into unit 6 at Zaporizhia NPP.

Despite the postponement, TVEL does not rule out the future transfer of the TVSA-12 technology to Ukraine as part of the Smo-lino fuel fabrication plant project. TVSA-12 fuel has been used at Russia’s Kalinin-1 since 2006. They are fourth generation assemblies with 12 spacer grids and a stiffer skeleton. In addition to Ukraine, FC TVEL plans to supply TVSA-12 to Kozloduy N-plant in Bulgaria.

Fuel briefsKAzAKHSTAN/US: Some 33kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU) has been removed from the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Almaty, Ka-zakhstan, and downblended into low enriched uranium (LEU), the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced. The HEU, fresh fuel for the research reactor at the institute, was shipped to the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk in August and has now been converted to LEU. This will be returned to the institute where NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative and Kazakhstan are working to convert the research reactor from the use of HEU to LEU fuel. The removal and downblending of the HEU fuel was a combined effort between NNSA, the Kazakh government and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

RUSSIA: The city of Zheleznogorsk hosted the public hearings on construction of a mixed oxide (mox) fuel production facility at the Mining and Chemical Combine. The facility will supply fuel to the BN-800 fast reactor being built at Beloyarsk NPP. The project

provides for plutonium stored at the MCC to be used in fuel for BN reactors. The cost of the project is RUB7bn ($226.5m). MCC Deputy Chief Engineer Konstantin Kudinov says the new industrial facil-ity, which will be built inside a mountain, will create more than 400 jobs. The combine plans to start producing mox-fuel in 2014. A preliminary environmental impact assessment was presented at the hearings which approved development of the mox-fuel fabrication fa-cility by 213 votes with one abstention and no votes against the plan.

TAIwAN: Test operations are expected to begin in early 2012 at Taiwan’s first used fuel interim storage facility. The Atomic Energy Council (AEC), said operator Taipower would apply in November for a licence to begin commissioning the facility, which is located at the Chinshan NPP. Full facility operation may not begin until 2013. Taiwan operates six reactors at three NPPs, and has two more units under construction. Nuclear power provides about 25% of Taiwan’s baseload electricity. Taiwan imports all of its nuclear materials and services, and plans to have a geological repository for used fuel in operation by 2032. Currently, used fuel is stored in pools at the reac-tor sites, which AEC describes as “almost full”. AEC gave Taipower a licence to begin building the Chinshan dry storage facility in 2008, but will not issue an operating licence until it has inspected the com-pleted facility and qualified pre-operational tests.

UKRAINE: The upper house of parliament (Superior Rada) in mid October approved a bill calling for centralised storage of used nuclear fuel. The bill provides for construction of a centralised storage facil-ity for used fuel from Ukrainian NPPs. The plan calls for building the facility within the Chernobyl exclusion area, specifically, between the villages of Staraya Krasnitsa, Buryakovka, Chistogalovka and Stechanka in the Kiev region. The facility will use surface dry stor-age technology, and will have a total capacity of 16,529 assemblies from VVER-440 and VVER-1000 reactors. It will become part of the common spent fuel management complex of the state-owned company Chernobyl NPP. An explanatory note to the bill says con-struction of the facility will be funded by loans, which will be repaid by nuclear utility Energoatom out of electricity rates during the four years after the facility is commissioned. Energoatom now is paying Russia for temporary storage and reprocessing of used fuel.

US: Babcock & Wilcox Company’s (B&W) subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) has been awarded a $114.7m contract for fuel manu-facture and delivery and support services for the US Naval Nuclear Propulsion Programme. NFS President Joseph G Henry said sup-port of the naval fuel programme was an important part of B&W’s business portfolio. He added that NFS had developed the process for manufacturing naval nuclear fuel. NFS manufactures fuel for the US Navy’s nuclear powered aircraft carrier and submarine fleet, and processes highly enriched uranium in a facility licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

US: NRC in mid October issued a licence to AREVA Enrichment Ser-vices (AES) to build and operate the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility, a gas centrifuge enrichment plant in Bonneville County, Idaho. The licence authorises AES to enrich uranium up to 5% by weight for use in the manufacture of fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. AES plans to begin construction in 2012. AES applied for the licence in December 2008. In September 2010, the NRC staff issued a safety

Fuel - Enrichment to Storage


evaluation report that concluded the proposed facility complied with NRC regulations and would not pose an undue health or safety risk to workers or the public. A February 2011 environmental impact statement concluded there would be no significant impacts from the facility. NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board held a public hear-ing on the proposal in January 2011, and issued its decision authoris-ing the agency staff to license the facility in October.

US: Used nuclear fuel is not “waste”, says astronomer Patrick Moore, a former director of Greenpeace International. He told the Governor’s Conference on Energy in the US state of Virginia that it was a resource that could be reused to make energy. Moore split with Greenpeace when he concluded that nuclear power represented a safe, environmentally sound energy source. A similar message was delivered by Eric Knox, with San Francisco, California-based engineering firm URS Corp. Knox said that for a number of years, there was no business case for reprocessing, but now it “just makes so much sense”. Adrian Heymer with the Nuclear Energy Institute, a US nuclear industry association, stressed the safety of used fuel stor-age. He said used fuel at Japan’s earthquake and tsunami-devastated Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) came through the plant meltdowns safely. Officials from Virginia’s North Anna NPP, hit by a much smaller earthquake in August, also said used fuel held in dry storage at that site was not damaged.

wASTE MANAGEMENT

US waste solutions consideredwITH THE DEMISE of the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada, a new US high-level waste repository will be needed, said Paula Marino, Vice President of Engineering for US energy producer Southern Nuclear.

Speaking to a mid October meeting in Atlanta of the federal blue ribbon task force on waste management, Marino said that the tech-nical knowledge developed for the Yucca Mountain project should be preserved, and that research should be conducted to improve existing repository designs.

She also called for “depoliticising” any new organisations created to handle nuclear waste. Southern operates six reactors: two at the Vogtle nuclear power plant (NPP) in Georgia; two at Hatch NPP, also in Georgia; and two at Farley NPP in Alabama. Hatch and Farley have built on-site dry storage facilities.

Bobbie Paul, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which opposes a two-unit new-build proposal at Vogtle, urged the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future not to create any interim storage facilities or allow the transportation of used fuel.

Susan Corbett, Chairman of the South Carolina chapter of the environmental group Sierra Club, said South Carolina may be consid-ered as an interim storage site because the state hosts the Depart-ment of Energy’s Savannah River Site. Interim could very easily become “permanent”, she said.

Georgia Public Service Commission Chairman Stan Wise said Georgia ratepayers have paid at least $586m into the federal Nuclear Waste Fund. He said that $7bn collected nationally “was spent on an 8,000 page licence application and a tunnel”, and that the pro-gramme now is at an “impasse”.

Glenn Sjoden, a professor of nuclear engineering at Georgia Technical University, urged the commission to consider reviving the Yucca Mountain project. The commission’s charter explicitly pro-hibits it from considering Yucca Mountain or any other site. Sjoden also called for consideration of reprocessing, and said that France reprocesses 85% of its spent fuel.

The commission’s draft report, which is being discussed at a series of public meetings nationwide, called for creating a new organisation with the authority to make better use of the Nuclear Waste Fund to support nuclear waste management.

While supporting efforts to develop one or more permanent disposal sites, the commission also recommended consolidating spent fuel now scattered at plants across the country into one or more interim storage facilities. The commission will make formal recommendations to the Secretary of Energy in January, taking into consideration public comments.

Yucca Mountain alternative usesAt the request of US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the US Gov-ernment Accountability Office (GAO) has reviewed possible alterna-tive uses for the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, once designated by the US government as the host site for the nation’s repository for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

The site is adjacent to two national security sites: the Air Force’s Nevada Test and Training Range and the Department of Energy’s Nevada Nuclear Security Site, formerly used for above- and below-ground nuclear weapons testing.

The GAO report, Yucca Mountain: Information on Alternative Uses of the Site and Related Challenges, said experts identified alternative uses in five broad categories: nuclear and radiological uses, such as a spent fuel reprocessing site; defence or homeland security activities, such as testing systems to detect radioactive materials; information technology uses, such as secure electronic data storage; energy devel-opment or storage, such as using the site for renewable energy devel-opment; and scientific research, such as geology or mining research.

GAO pointed out that the most notable features at the site are two large tunnels, one about five miles long and 25ft in diameter, and the other about two miles long that branches off the main tunnel of the former Exploratory Shaft Facility.

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EU studies find geological disposal effectiveEUROPEAN SCIENTISTS STUDYING the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) concluded that the process is an effective isolation barrier for tens of thousands to millions of years.

Writing for the June e-news bulletin of the European Nuclear Society (ENS), researchers at Laboratoire Subatech in France and SCK-CEN in Belgium based their conclusions on the results of two EU-funded waste research projects they coordinated.

SCK-CEN coordinated field work for the Glamor project carried out between 2002 and 2006. It was followed by the 2007-2010 Micado project, coordinated by Subatech.

Both studies assessed the uncertainties in existing models predicting the dissolution rates of nuclear waste from the open and closed fuel cycle over geological time periods.

Fuel - Enrichment to Storage > waste Management


Glamor assessed the uncertainties of models of the the dissolution of vitrified waste glass in pure water without additional materials, such as bentonite or metallic corrosion products.

It concluded that HLW waste blocks could be expected to retain integrity for more than 100,000 years. It noted that the final dissolu-tion rate could be as much as 10,000 times less than initial rates, a key factor to ensuring block longevity. However, remaining uncer-tainties over the mechanisms that affect dissolution rates provided the basis for subsequent model development.

Micado brought together the expertise of waste management agencies, regulatory technical support bodies and research organi-sations from Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzer-land and the UK.

They undertook uncertainty analyses about how radionuclides would be released from used fuel structures, including cladding and glass, over different time intervals: for the first few thousand years, when a container was intact; and for the next few hundreds of thou-sands of years, when a container had corroded and released a lot of hydrogen; and very long subsequent time periods, where there was less hydrogen, but containers were even less likely to be dependable.

The project concluded that the dissolution rate of vitrified glass containers (from reprocessing) and fuel rod cladding was slow; be-tween 0.02 and 5 micrograms/m2 per day in the latter two periods.

This meant that the largest contribution to dose would come from the radionuclides in non-confined zones of the fuel, rather than for instance the fuel pellet, and that the resulting lifetime of the spent fuel [glass and cladding] is significantly longer than 106 years. Both studies identified further areas for research.

Dounreay begins work on LLw storewORK wILL bEGIN in November on a £100m ($160m) low-level waste (LLW) store at the UK’s former nuclear site at Dounreay, Scotland. The store will include up to six shallow vaults, with the first ex-pected to begin accepting waste in 2014.

The demolition of Dounreay is expected to fill up to 7,000 shipping containers with contaminated debris, which will be grouted before disposal in the vaults, which are being constructed by Graham Con-struction. The vaults are designed to house 240,000t of LLW.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will fund the site, which will accept LLW from decommissioning at Dounreay. Con-taminated material will be placed in 500l steel drums, which will be compressed and put in shipping containers filled with cement, then moved to the vaults and covered with more cement.

However, the breakdown of a 2,000t super-compactor which compacts the steel drums to about a fifth of the original size means drums currently awaiting treatment are accumulating at the plant..

Meanwhile, Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DRSL) has invited bids from seven pre-selected companies for the design and construc-tion of a plant to grout low-level waste (LLW) at Dounreay.

The companies are Costain Oil Gas & Process Ltd, Graham Construction, Nuvia Ltd, NUKEM Technologies, ONET Technolo-gies UK, Portasilo Ltd and Redhall Nuclear Ltd. DRSLexpects to award the contract in March 2012 for plant to be operational by April 2014.

AREVA signs Ukraine waste pactUKRAINIAN NUCLEAR UTILITY Energoatom and France’s AREVA plan to sign a framework agreement in mid November on cooperation on radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel processing, said Energoatom Vice President Natalia Shumkova.

She said one possible option for future cooperation could be for AREVA to process nuclear fuel made by Toshiba subsidiary Westing-house and used at South Ukraine nuclear power plant (NPP).

The Ukrainian parliament in late October approved at first reading a bill to authorise construction of a central used fuel storage facility. She said the Westinghouse fuel could be taken to France for processing, and high-level waste (HLW) would be returned to Ukraine for storage.

Shumkova said Energoatom plans to cooperate with AREVA in the purchase of containers for removing HLW obtained during the pro-cessing of used fuel. Noting that Russia does not have a container fleet to bring HLW back to Ukraine, she said Ukraine was ready to buy the containers from France to place in its national storage facilities.

The French have well developed logistics for this, she added. She said talks with AREVA would determine whether Ukraine opted to buy containers, or buy the technology and set up a joint venture to produce the containers in Ukraine.

Energoatom sends used fuel from seven VVER-1000 reactors for storage in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk-based mining and chemical combine and from two VVER-440 reactors to Russia’s Mayak production centre in Chelyabinsk.

Ukraine must begin taking back HLW from these activities in 2013. Used fuel from the VVER-1000 reactors at Ukraine’s Zapori-zhia NPP is not taken to Russia, but placed in dry storage at a facility near the plant commissioned in 2001.

westinghouse team gets bulgarian waste dealTOSHIbA SUbSIDIARY wESTINGHOUSE has signed a multi-million dollar contract to design the low- and intermediate-level waste ( LLW/ILW) repository at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant (NPP) in Bulgaria.

A consortium comprised of Spanish waste management company ENRESA, Westinghouse Electric Spain (WES) and DBE Technology signed the contract with SERAW, the Bulgarian State Enterprise responsible for managing radioactive waste under an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

WES led the bid, based on the company’s experience on the El Cabril project (Spain’s LLW/ILW repository), which it designed in the 1980s. Kozloduy offered WES and ENRESA their first opportunity to take advantage of the El Cabril technical and operational experience in a market outside Spain.

Westinghouse’s Decommissioning & Dismantling and Waste Management (D&D & WM) division has worked across Europe for more than 20 years. Westinghouse has participated in D&D proj-ects that include those at the Vandellos I NPP, Zorita NPP, El Cabril and CIEMAT restoration in Spain; ISPRA (Italy/European Union) and La Latina NPP (Italy); Mochovce (Slovakia), Chooz A (France), Sellafield in the UK.

waste Management


Westinghouse Vice-President for the Southern Europe region, Jose Emeterio Gutierrez said the contract further demonstrates Westing-house’s commitment to the Bulgarian nuclear market.

Serbia builds storage facilitySTATE OwNED NUCLEAR Facilities of Serbia (NFS) is building a radio-active waste storage facility on a 70-hectare site at the former Vinca Nuclear Research Institute. Construction has taken four years on what NFS describes as a “state-of-the-art” radioactive waste storage facility.

The size of the new facility has left environmentalists speculat-ing about whether Serbia expects to import radioactive waste from abroad. Radojica Pesic, CEO of NFS, has denied that Vinca will take foreign radioactive waste, citing Serbia’s law on nuclear safety and protection against ionising radiation, which prohibits the import of radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel.

Two old facilities at Vinca, known as Warehouses X1 and X2, store radioactive waste generated by nuclear research, industry and medi-cine in the former Yugoslavia. Warehouse X1 is full to capacity and sealed. Warehouse X2 is in use, but is considered substandard.

Eventually, all the waste will be transferred to the new facility, known as Warehouse X3. Serbian officials acknowledge that both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the US State Department have pressured Serbia to replace the dilapidated Ware-houses X1 and X2.

Next to Warehouse X3 is another, smaller new building known as the Safe Storage of Strong Sources (BS), where depleted uranium (DU) munitions dropped from NATO’s A-10 aircraft during the 1999 war will also be stored.

The DU munitions currently are stored in Warehouse X2. Pesic said Warehouse X3 has the capacity to store 8,600 drums of 200 litres each, or 1,700m3 of radioactive waste.

This warehouse, he says, is not the biggest in Europe, but “it is the biggest empty warehouse in Europe at the moment.” The new ware-house, which cost €2.5m ($3.4m), has received an operating licence from the Ministry of the Environment, Mining, and Spatial Planning.

Continuing tension over Lithuanian storageCONSTRUCTION OF THE interim dry storage facility for used nuclear fuel (Project B1) at Lithuania’s Ignalina nuclear power plant (NPP) will be completed in 2012 if the customer and contractor reach an agreement, according to Andreas Weichard, director for Eastern Europe at Nukem Technologies.

The facility is almost complete, and all necessary equipment has been supplied, Weichard said. Only the roof waterproofing technol-ogy remains under construction.

Construction of a complex for management and storage of solid radioactive waste (Project B2/3/4) also is near completion. Since all the equipment is available, installation and start-up can take place in 2013,” Weichard said.

However, according to Algirdas Vaidotas, deputy director of

Lithuania’s radioactive waste management agency (RATA), con-struction of facility B3/4 (management and storage of solid radwaste complex) is moving forward, but construction of the B2 facility (solid radwaste retrieval complex) is “seriously delayed.”

“It may happen that the disposal facility is already available, but there is no waste to dispose,” he said.

Vaidotas also said that while he hoped B1 would be commis-sioned in 2012, there were still some open issues related to the used fuel storage containers and modernisation of the hot cell to repackage fuel in the storage facility. The containers, he said were “too heavy” for B1, with one container, at 117t, approaching the legal weight limit of 125t.

waste briefsGERMANY: Angry protesters greeted the arrival of a radioactive waste shipment at a northern Germany long-term storage facility at Gor-leben, Lower Saxony. The shipment comprised 11 containers of high-level waste (HLW) from the La Hague facility in France, which had reprocessed fuel from German NPPs. Environmentalists and others charged that the new design containers (TN 85) emitted 40% more neutron radiation than the old container design. The TN 85 contain-ers have shells designed to withstand greater heat from the HLW. German officials said tests showed radiation was within legal limits.

SLOVAKIA: Power producer Slovenske Elektrarne (SE) plans to cut liquid radioactive waste to 5% of current volumes. SE wants to implement the waste reduction project in both its NPPs: Jaslovske Bohunice and Mochovce. SE already has applied for licensing for the new process. SE plans to supplement its existing system of modifica-tion and processing of liquid waste with additional filtration equip-ment and a dryer to decrease the final volume of waste that must be processed by an outside company. SE hopes to cut waste processing costs, and intends to launch the project in Mochovce next April, and three months later in Bohunice. The new waste system should be in place by February and December of 2013, respectively.

SwEDEN: The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) recommend-ed tripling the fee paid by the nuclear power industry for management of nuclear waste. SSM was asked to assess fees nuclear generators should pay into the Nuclear Waste Fund for the next three years. Based on information from relevant organisations, including cost estimates from Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB), SSM recommended that the fee should be set at SEK0.003/kWh ($0.003/kWh) of nuclear electricity produced. The current level is SEK.001/kWh. SSM said much of the increase resulted from new SKB estimates that he remaining costs of the planned final repository for used fuel had grown by about SEK18bn ($2.7bn) compared with 2008 estimates. SSM said it believed SKB underestimated future costs, and adjusted the proposed fee to reflect this. SSM submitted its proposals to the gov-ernment, which will make the final decision. Earlier this year, SKB ap-plied for a licence to build a final used fuel repository at Forsmark. Site preparation work is expected to begin in 2013, with full construction expected to start in 2015. Operation is planned for the early 2020s.

US: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has proposed draft guidance that would allow uranium recovery facilities to accept,

waste Management


process, and dispose of resins used to remove naturally occurring uranium from municipal drinking water systems. The regulator will accept comments on the proposal until mid November. The guidance would clarify that NRC considers the resins “equivalent feed”, es-sentially identical to material already processed by uranium recovery facilities, and would allow these facilities to process such resins without obtaining a licence amendment.

US: The Utilities Service Alliance a cooperative of 15 US utilities, has entered into an agreement to dispose of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) in a soon-to-be-opened repository in Texas. Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) announced the agreement, which is still subject to regulatory approval. WCS CEO William Lindqvist said five of the 17 NPPs represented by the alliance had already committed to ship their LLW to WCS’s Texas repository. WCS is building the reposi-tory in western Texas near the border with New Mexico. The reposi-tory is licensed to dispose of all three US categories of LLW (classes A, B, and C). The repository is expected to open in November and begin receiving waste in December. Alliance members collectively operate 27 nuclear reactors. The alliance was established in 1994 to allow utili-ties with only a single NPP site to share resources, consolidate selected support functions, and source products and services.

CLEAN UP

Spent fuel imports fund Mayak clean-upPUbLIC HEARINGS AT Russia’s Production Association Mayak in Oz-ersk (Chelyabinsk) have approved the continued import of spent fuel assemblies from research reactors in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Poland, and Romania, the proceeds of which are used to finance environ-mental clean-up programmes.

The special environmental programmes have been under way in the Chelyabinsk region since 2006. According to Tatiana Meshkova, division head at the regional Ministry for Radiation and Environ-mental Safety, proceeds from future spent fuel imports will be used to build water supply and sewage piping and inner village roads.

Some of the funds will be spent to complete the rehabilitation of the area around Muslyumovo village and flood lands of the Techa river which were heavily contaminated as a result of defence related nuclear projects at PA Mayak in the 1950s.

Funds to be channelled to the Chelyabinsk region budget are put at RUB91m ($3m).

Mayak’s radiochemical plant (RCP) Acting Director Dmitry Kolupaev said some of the money was used to build special lines to channel waste accumulated as a result of reprocessing activities related to the weapons programmes. To date, the design work has been completed and construction and stage-by-stage commissioning of the RCP special line is planned.

Clean up briefsCzECH REPUbLIC: The cabinet has deferred a decision on remediat-ing former uranium mines in the Staz pod Ralskem area. Under a proposal from the Trade and Industry Ministry, remediation

would last until 2042 and cost CZK31.3bn ($1.7bn). The Council of Economic Ministers still has to discuss the work, said Prime Minister Petr Necas. He said remediation is inevitable, because more than 4mt of sulphuric acid and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of other chemicals have drained into the ground. The Council of Economic Ministers will also discuss financing. Necas said these discussions would centre on whether to make a single, 30-year commitment, or take the decision in stages. He defended simultaneous discussions of future uranium mining in the Czech Republic, but agreed that this would be contingent on finding environmentally friendly mining methods, as well as effective methods to remediate past contamination.

RUSSIA: State nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to begin develop-ing a long-term national strategy on “nuclear legacy” problems. Oleg Kryukov, head of Rosatom’s nuclear and radiation safety di-rectorate, said it would take 18 months to develop the programme, which would cover a period of 50-70 years. Kryukov said Rosatom would inventory Russia’s nuclear facilities, determine their mis-sions, and plan for decommissioning. The effort has been partially started in the frames of an existing federal target programme, how-ever, the focus has been on problems requiring urgent solutions. The new programme also must create a business environment where work can be carried out effectively.

UKRAINE: Construction of the New Safe Containment (NSC) over the Shelter facility at Ukraine’s Chernobyl NPP will be completed in 2015, according to Plant Manager Igor Gramotkin. Work is con-tinuing on the fifth licensing package, which covers foundations, main crane systems, metal structures, lining and process build-ings. The most difficult part of the effort is the design of the arch, he said. The arch will be 108 metres high and span 250 metres. It must have a lifetime of at least 100 years. The dry storage facility for used fuel is also expected to begin operation in 2015. Regula-tory authorities have approved a conceptual design, and contrac-tor Holtec International will start work on the detailed design. Chernobyl authorities also hope to begin operations in 2012 of a facility to manage solid radioactive waste. In December, equipment will be installed at a liquid radioactive waste processing plant to be commissioned in 2012.

UK: Sellafield workers have removed more than 1,000m3 of radioactive sludge from six large concrete tanks. The sludge was a product of fuel reprocessing liquid effluent treatment methods used in the 1950s. Sludge removal is running months ahead of schedule. The first tank was emptied in 2005, two more have been emptied since Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) took over the management of Sellafield Ltd and the fourth is almost emptied.The sludge has been placed in a modern, high-integrity holding vessel pending process through Sellafield’s current effluent plants. It will then be mixed with cement in stainless steel drums and so-lidified for long-term storage. The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) expects the process will take about two years. Ian Hudson, head of NDA’s Sellafield programme, said sludge re-maining in old sea tanks was one of the main environmental and safety hazards at Sellafield. With two tanks left to empty, workers have already dealt with almost 80% of the radioactive inventory from the old tanks.

waste Management > Clean up


DECOMMISSIONING

Russia to develop decommissioning conceptRUSSIA PLANS TO select a concept for decommissioning its nuclear facilities in 2012, said Alexander Rokshin, Deputy Director General of state nuclear corporation Rosatom. Currently two options are being considered: a green field option that would leave no trace of former nuclear activities, and a brown field option that would leave some structures that pose no radiation hazard on the site.

In 2010, Russia decommissioned 10 nuclear and radiation hazard-ous facilities, according to Yevgeny Komarov, head of office for devel-opment of a system for NRHF decommissioning at Rosatom.

Last year, decommissioning began at 151 facilities. The govern-ment intends to complete decommissioning at 42 facilities by 2015, 82 by 2020, and about 120 by 2025.

Komarov also said that, by 2015, Russia should complete a nuclear industry-wide system for decommissioning, an inventory of Ro-satom facilities, and an assessment of the nominal cost of decommis-sioning. A regulatory legal basis for the industry-wide system also should be completed. Russia also will develop a strategic timetable through 2050 and build three pilot demonstration centres and implement two pilot decommissioning projects.

Russia so far has spent $46.2m to decommission uranium-graphite reactors under a federal target programme on nuclear and radiation safety, according to Dmitry Mikhailov, head of Rosatom’s project office PDC UGR. Total budget allocations for decommissioning urani-um-graphite reactors in 2008 to 2015 totals $144m. The programme covers 19 reactors, of which 15 are already shut down.

Mikhailov said that seven buildings at the Siberian Chemical Com-bine would be demolished this year under the programme. Decom-missioning of cooling towers and below ground equipment would also continue.

At the Beloyarsk nuclear plant, radioactive waste accumulated earlier will be removed and reprocessed. At the Mining and Chemical Combine in Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk) , design work and drafting of a safety justification document has begun.

Decommissioning briefsLITHUANIA: The government and the European Union (EU) continue to argue over financing for the decommissioning of Lithuania’s Ignalina NPP. Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has reiterated that Lithuania is dissatisfied with the project, in terms of the performance of contractor Nukem and the EU’s projected financing. Lithuania asked the EU to allocate $1.2bn for decom-missioning in the 2014-2020 budget, although Brussels only plans to budget a combined $972m for decommissioning in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Lithuania. Lithuania says this amount is inot enough to complete the work by its 2029 deadline, and has warned that the work could be pushed back indefinitely. The EU, in turn, complains that $396m already paid to Lithuania is currently not accounted for and says Vilnius is not investigating the discrepancy.. When news of the missing funds surfaced in 2010, Brussels threatened to halt further financing.

UK: Operations to remove the fuel from the two shut down Magnox reactors at the UK’s Calder Hall NPP at Sellafield have begun. The four 50MWe units at Calder Hall, the world’s first industrial-scale NPP, were shut down in 2003 after 47 years of operation. Its four cooling towers were demolished in 2007, but the used fuel has remained in place. Defuelling is expected to take up to six years. The fuel will be re-processed on the Sellafield site. After the fuel is removed, the reactors and associated infrastructure will be decommissioned to allow Calder Hall to enter a “care and maintenance” phase, where the reactor buildings will be continuously monitored until the site is completely cleared. Plans call for completion of decommissioning in 2017.

NUCLEAR MATERIALS

Activists sue to stop Los Alamos plutonium labUS NUCLEAR wATCHDOG group Los Alamos Study Group has filed a second lawsuit seeking to halt construction of a $5.8bn plutonium research laboratory at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Los Ala-mos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

The suit filed in a US district court aims to force the laboratory to consider cheaper alternatives to the project. DOE’s National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA), which manages the lab, in October approved issuing a bid request for final design and construction of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) project.

CMRR would replace a 60-year-old building that has been declared seismically unsafe. The project has been on the drawing board for decades, and DOE expects it will take another decade to complete.

Critics have fought the facility since it was first proposed, arguing that it is not needed and is prohibitively expensive. The latest lawsuit contends that NNSA failed to evaluate alternatives as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

Last year, Los Alamos Study Group filed a lawsuit that contended DOE and NNSA violated federal law by preparing to build CMRR without a new environmental impact statement or without properly considering alternatives. A federal judge dismissed the earlier law-suit in June after NNSA released a new project review.

US supports isotope productionTHE ObAMA ADMINISTRATION has signed a $4.6m deal to promote domestic production of medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) without using highly enriched uranium (HEU), the US National Nuclear Security Administration announced in early November.

The cost-share agreement with NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes in Wisconsin would speed up development of proprietary systems that would help establish a more stable Mo-99 supply.

Mo-99, though a decay process, produces technetium 99m, which is used worldwide, particularly for diagnosing heart disease and can-cer. The US cannot currently produce Mo-99, while reactor closures in Canada and elsewhere have limited available supplies. NNSA is cooperating with four private US groups to develop a US Mo-99 pro-duction capability that does not require HEU.

Decommissioning > Nuclear Materials


NEw TECHNOLOGIES

South Carolina to set up nuclear centreIN MID OCTObER, the University of South Carolina (USC) an-nounced that it would establish the General Atomics Centre for Development of Transformational Nuclear Technologies within USC’s engineering department.

San Diego, California-based nuclear technology company General Atomics will provide $900,000 for the centre, and the state will provide $3m in proceeds from the state lottery.

The centre will research technologies for recycling used fuel, better resource utilisation and waste reduction, and technologies for faster and less expensive construction of nuclear power plants (NPPs). It also will train new engineers and scientists in nuclear technology.

Dr Tony Ambler, dean of the USC engineering school, said the university has launched a nationwide search for a recognised expert in transformation nuclear technologies and concepts to head the centre.

The General Atomics Centre is the second USC-based state Centre of Economic Excellence (COEE) dedicated to nuclear tech-nology. The first was dedicated to the design and development of advanced materials needed to extend the life of existing NPPs and to develop new reactors.

New technology briefsAUSTRALIA: Queensland University of Technology has developed a nanofibre technology that removes radioactive waste from con-taminated water and aid clean up after nuclear disasters. Chemis-try professor Huai-Yong Zhu said the process uses the world’s first intelligent absorbent, which uses titanate nanofibre and nanotube technology. It firmly binds radioactive material from contaminated water. The used absorbents can be safely disposed without risk of leakage, even if the material became wet, according to a university statement. Zhu said 1g of nanofibres could effectively purify at least 1t of polluted water. The technology was developed in cooperation with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and US Pennsylvania State University. In the process, water is run through nanotubes and the nanofibres trap radioactive caesium (Cs+) ions through a structural change.

RUSSIA: AKME-engineering will soon sign a contract with the chief architect of a NPP to be built in Dimitrovgrad with a pilot SVBR-100 commercial reactor unit. The company said a competi-tive dialogue held late September had resulted in selection of the All-Russia Science Research and Design Institute of Power Engineering Technology (VNIPIET) in St Petersburg the as chief architect. The contract with VNIPIET for preparation of the design materials and working documentation for construction will be signed by the end of the year. The SVBR-100 reactor has been designed by OKB Gidropress and the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering in Obninsk is the scientific supervi-sor. AKME-engineering is a joint venture between state nuclear corporation Rosatom and EuroSibEnergo established in 2009 to develop a business in design, construction and operation of small

and medium nuclear power facilities using SVBR-100 technology. The pilot reactor is planned to start up in 2017. Total investment is estimated at RUB16bn ($513.5m).

US: Supporters of fast reactor research have placed a petition on the White House web site to renew funding and restart the integral fast reactor (IFR) programme. The White House has said it will consider petitions that gain more than 5,000 signatures, and the IFR petition has until the end of October to meet the deadline. One of the argu-ments made in favour of IFR is that it can burn used fuel from light-water reactors, and elements in the used fuel that cannot be recycled have half-lives of 300 years or less.

US/ITER: The US ITER Project Office at the Department of Ener-gy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee awarded a $13.2m task order to AREVA Federal Services for fabrication of five drain tanks for the ITER tokamak cooling water system. The ITER device, under construction in south France, aims to dem-onstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion energy. ITER is intended to produce 500MWe of fusion power with first plasma planned for 2020. AREVA Federal Services won the bid for the cooling water system in 2009. Joseph Oat Corporation, a privately held family business founded in 1788, will manufacture the tanks in Camden, New Jersey. The drain tanks will be among the first equipment installed inside the ITER tokamak building, and must be delivered by January 2014. The US is one of seven ITER members, along with China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea and Russia.

PEOPLE

On the moveUS: Ken Langdon has been named Vice President for Constella-tion Energy Nuclear Group’s Nine Mile Point NPP. In a related move, Michel Philippon, Former Manager for operations at Nine Mile Point has been named the new plant general manager, re-porting to Langdon. Frank Payne, currently the general supervi-sor for shift operations, has been named manager for operations, reporting to Philippon.

US/JAPAN: Yves Brachet has been appointed by Westinghouse-Toshiba as President for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, effective at the beginning of November. He was previously Vice President and Managing Director for France, Benelux, and Republic of South Africa and before that led the development of the Westinghouse business in France as Regional Vice President, France.

wANO: Vladimir Asmolov has been elected President of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO). He was formerly Deputy Director of Russian nuclear utility Rosenergoatom. He succeeds China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co chairman He Yu and will serve a nominal two-year term.

New Technologies > People


The MNB Interview

The MNB InterviewBIOGRAPHY

Richard J Myers, Vice PresidentPolicy Development, Planning and Supplier Programs at the Nuclear Energy Institute

Richard Myers, Nuclear Energy InstituteWith the nuclear industry worldwide still reeling from the eff ects of the Fukushima accident in Japan, MNB US correspondent Thecla Fabia spoke to Richard Myers of the US Nuclear Energy Institute about prospects in the US. TF: What do you see as the major needs for a healthy US nuclear power programme over the next 10 to 20 years?RM: The industry obviously must maintain a strong focus on safe, reliable plant performance. That is essential.

Beyond that, strong, bipartisan political support from both the Ex-ecutive Branch and Congress is critical. Political support is an impor-tant part of the foundation, and we think we have that. Public support also is important, and we think we have that as well. Public support dropped after Fukushima, but the latest polls show it is recovering nicely. Political and public support are the bedrock on which to build a healthy nuclear energy programme, in the US or anywhere.

TF: How will the accident at Fukushima in Japan affect the industry?RM: Over the long term, the nuclear industry—operators from the US and around the world - will learn from the Fukushima accident. The industry will incorporate these lessons into operating practices and plant design, and come out of the event stronger and safer. This has been the historical precedent after past accidents. After the Three Mile Island accident, both industry and the Nuclear Regula-tory Commission took steps to improve safety, including creation of the Institute of Nuclear Plant Operations (INPO). After Chernobyl, the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) was created to do for the world nuclear industry what INPO did for US plants. WANO just fi nished a major world meeting in China, the fi rst since the Fukushima accident, and committed to a number of new initia-tives to improve safety and performance going forward.

Accidents are unfortunate, and we all wish they didn’t happen. But the measure of an industry is its ability to take a cold-blooded honest look at itself, identify what went wrong, and learn from it. If it can do this in an open and transparent way, the industry will come out stronger.

TF: What are the major obstacles - technical, fi nancial, regulatory or other - to newbuild and a healthy US nuclear programme?RM: The 104 operating plants are well positioned. Virtually all have renewed their licences, or are in the process of renewing their li-cences, to operate for 60 years. The industry now is looking into what it would take to run plants for 80 years. The 104 US nuclear power plants represent the lowest-cost, dispatchable baseload capacity on the grid. The long-term fundamentals are quite solid. The US will need new capacity to meet new demand over long term. It will have to replace some part of its existing capacity, whether the plants are coal-fi red, gas-fi red or nuclear

Over the next 5-6 years, new nuclear plant development in the US will proceed rather slowly. These are large projects being implemented by relatively small companies. We expect to see 4-8 new plants by 2020, with the pace of development accelerating after 2020. But it is too early to speculate on just what that means in terms of numbers.

The major near term challenge has to do with electricity markets and low natural gas prices. Over the last several years, an enormous resource base of shale gas has started coming to market at very low prices - in the $4/million BTU range. Analysts don’t expect the price to rise above $6/million BTU before 2020. This challenges the economics not only of new nuclear plants, but of any new large baseload power plant.

Electricity demand is also depressed because of the recession. We have lost four to fi ve years of electricity demand growth. This will push our schedules on new build, because capacity will not be needed as quickly. So in the near term, the challenges are market-related.

TF: What about fi nancing?RM: Financing is a challenge. Again, these are large projects being undertaken by relatively small companies. Regulated states that have shown strong support for nuclear power, such as Florida,

Richard Myers is responsible for defi ning policy initiatives, devel-oping legislative proposals and managing Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) programmes in the following areas: used nuclear fuel policy; fuel supply; support for suppliers of equipment, services and fuel; nonproliferation; tax issues affecting the nuclear energy industry; fi nancing of new nuclear facilities, and environmental policy.NEI’s Policy Development Division is also responsible for developing NEI’s annual business plan, monitoring energy policy issues and market trends, liaison with the fi nancial community, and analysis of how changes in the energy markets affect existing nuclear plants and the economic prospects for new nuclear plants.Myers started his career as a journalist. From 1973 to 1986, he was Executive Editor of King Publishing Group and managed all the company’s publications, including The Energy Daily and Defense

Week. He has also written extensively for other publications, including

The Financial Times, Fortune and The American Spectator.He joined the US Council for Energy Awareness (USCEA) - one of NEI’s predeces-sor organisations - in 1987 as director of editorial programmes. He received

a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Hobart

College, Geneva, New York, and completed the University

of Michigan Business School’s Electric

Utility Execu-tive Program

in 1993.

Country Profile


The MNB Interview

Georgia, and South Carolina, are allowing the recovery of certain costs before the plants go into service. This helps enormously with financing, by relieving stress on cash flow during construction. In regulated states, the legislatures and public service commissions look at resources over a 40- 60-year period. Newbuild will be more difficult in unregulated, merchant power states. In merchant states, the only criterion that counts is the cost of electricity from the plant on the day it enters service.Since the upfront costs of building a nuclear plant are high, nuclear will be more of a challenge in merchant power states.

Originally, the industry had high hopes for the Department of Energy loan guarantee programme, but the loan guarantees are prov-ing to be more of a challenge than they should be. Both of the lead projects in merchant power states, located in Texas and Maryland, are essentially marking time. But If we can build 4-8 plants by 2020 and can demonstrate that they can be built approximately within budget and on schedule, and can demonstrate that the new licencing process works as intended, we will have achieved a major victory.

The major growth in nuclear power in the near term will be overseas with 65 reactors under construction worldwide. More than twice that number are planned. We need to make sure that US suppliers and US technology can compete for globally. If the US is in the market, it stands the best chance of influencing nonproliferation policy and sharing our safety and operational practices. The US still has some of most innova-tive reactor designs. Many countries want to buy American technology.

TF: What is needed for the US to rebuild the supply chain? What do supplier companies need to get into the nuclear market, or to increase their presence in the nuclear market?RM: We need to create a partnership between US industry and the US government to promote the export of technology, safety practices, op-erations and maintenance expertise, and non-proliferation practices. US companies are competing with state-owned companies such as those in France and Russia, or countries where the governments and nuclear companies are closely aligned, such as South Korea.

Succesful participation in the global supply chain could create tens of thousands of US jobs, and generate economic growth. We need to make sure US policies are efficient. We need better integration among federal agencies, including the Departments of State, Energy, Com-merce. This is not always the case today.

We need the government to look at the nuclear industry as an instrument of US foreign policy. If US companies are not part of the market, the US will not be part of the policy discussion over non-pro-liferation. We will have little opportunity to influence other people’s behavior with regard to issues such as safety and non-proliferation. NEI and the nuclear industry are working with the Executive Branch and Congress to move in this direction.

The US companies with N-stamps (those that meet American So-ciety for Mechanical Engineers standards for nuclear-grade compo-nents) have increased dramatically over the last several years. The new reactors under construction in Georgia and South Carolina will source a lot of components—particularly precision, high-end components such as valves and control rod drives—from US companies. The US supply chain will thrive, prosper and grow if these companies can ac-cess the world market on competitive terms with overseas suppliers.

[At a 1 November 2011 press briefing in Washington, DC, Myers estimated the potential world nuclear market at $500bn-$750bn over the next 10 years. Better integration and alignment in the Executive Branch on nuclear power issues is critical, he said. There is no single

focus of integration among the federal agencies, including DOE, and the departments of State and Commerce. The only place to integrate nuclear energy policy is through the White House, most likely the National Security Council or the National Economic Council.]

TF: How do you see the waste issue playing out? Do you see a resurgence of interest in reprocessing?RM: We’re not particularly happy about the Obama Administration’s decision to terminate the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada. There was no scientific basis to terminate the effort. We continue to believe the licensing process should move forward. Whether or not we ever build a repository at Yucca Mountain, we would learn a lot from licensing. It is unfortunate that we spent more than $8bn and we are now turning our backs on it. We recognise the political reality, but that doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it.

An effective, credible used fuel management programme has a number of components. We will need centralised interim storage facilities. NEI supports interim storage. We believe the programme must be restructured and would like to see management responsibil-ity removed from DOE and vested in a new quasi-federal corporation. We believe there is long-term potential and promise in reprocessing and recycling, and support a technology development programme to bring these advanced fuel cycle technologies to market.

No matter what kind of fuel cycle we use, we will need a disposal facility for some waste products. The Blue Ribbon Commission has pretty much concluded that a strategy that includes centralised interim storage facilities, management reform, development of a permanent disposal facility, and technology development is the way to go. The key will be generating political support to put this program on a sustainable success path going forward. This is a major issue and a strategic priority that needs to be addressed.

TF: What about small modular reactors (SMRs)? Do you see a US market? Do you see a role for US companies in the world marketplace? How do you read NRC’s consideration of this issue?RM: We think SMRs are a very promising technology. They can provide generating companies with greater flexibility. Their smaller scale allows companies to match expansion with demand growth. Financing could be easier because of the lower per unit cost. There always will be a market for large 1,000-megawatt-class plants, but we think SMRs could find a major market both in the US and overseas. The US may replace older coal fired power plants, which tend to be smaller, with SMRs. Overseas, countries just getting into nuclear power, which do not have a large infrastructure in place, may find SMRs attractive.

Even SMR developers do not expect to see commercial deploy-ment until 2020 at the earliest. A lot of work remains to be done in terms of technology development and licensing. We are working with NRC on how to address licensing issues such as security and control room staffing. This will take some time. If SMRs provide higher levels of safety than today’s plants, which are already ex-tremely safe, then theyare definitely worth pursuing. This is a high priority for NEI.

With SMRs, we see the potential to expand nuclear energy’s product slate beyond electricity to include process heat and steam and used fuel management. Innovative fast reactors can consume actinides and other fissile materials in used fuel. So there is enormous potential with the small modular reactors.


COUNTRY PROFILE

US Nuclear Fuel CycleIN LINE WITH plans to build new nuclear power plants (NPPs), the US is expanding its nuclear fuel production capacity with up to three new enrichment plants likely to begin operation before 2020. Other aspects of fuel policv are also changing. Between 1977 and 2005, the government did not allow reprocessing of used fuel for commer-cial reactors. Recent legislation, however, calls for more research in advanced fuel technology and advanced reactors to recover the energy value of used fuel and reduce waste volume.

Originally all fuel cycle facilities in the US were owned and operated by the government, primarily for military purposes. The major conver-sion and enrichment facilities were commissioned in the 1950s.

Under a US Atomic Energy Commission contract, Metropolis Works plant (MTW) in southern Illinois began operation in 1958. After the contract’s conclusion, the facility was mothballed in 1964 but reopened in 1967, and since 1968 has operated as a private converter. The government-owned US Enrichment Corp (USEC) operated two large gaseous diffusion enrichment facilities at Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. The Paducah plant was commissioned in 1952 for military use, but began providing enriched uranium for civilian reactors in the 1960s.

From the 1960s to 2001, the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant worked in tandem with its sister facility in Paducah to enrich uranium for use in power plants. The Paducah plant enriched uranium up to 2.75% U-235 and then shipped it to Portsmouth for further enrich-ment to some 4-5%.

USEC was privatised in 1998, and leased the two plants from the Department of Energy (DOE). In 2001, it consolidated its enrichment operations at Paducah after closing the older Portsmouth facility. In August 2010, the DOE awarded a $2.1bn contract to a joint venture between Fluor Corp and Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) for decontamina-tion and decommissioning of the 15km2 Portsmouth site.

ConversionHoneywell-MTW, the only conversion plant in the US, converts urani-um oxide, U3O8 (yellowcake), to uranium hexafluoride (UF6) which then goes to the Paducah enrichment plant across the Ohio River as well as to customers abroad. Capacity has expanded from 9,000 tU as UF6 per year to 17,600 tU as UF6 today, and is expected to increase to 23,000 tU by 2020.

The next level of planned expansion at MTW is to 18,000 tU as UF6 by 2012, depending on market conditions. ConverDyn, a partnership between affiliates of Honeywell and General Atomics, is the exclusive agent for conversion sales.

EnrichmentIn 2001, USEC consolidated enrichment operations at Paducah after closing the older Portsmouth facility. Paducah has a capacity of 8m SWU/yr compared with the 12.7m SWU/yr needed by the US’s 104 operational NPPs. Its diffusion technology is inefficient and exzpen-sive to run and it is expected to close when new US centrifuge-based capacity comes on line. However, USEC is negotiating to extend its electricity supply agreement with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) when it expires at the end of March 2012 and is considering enriching depleted uranium tails at the plant.

Currently USEC is the agent for supply to the US of blended-down Russian uranium from weapons stockpiles under the Megatons to Megawatts arrangement which ends in 2013. USEC in March 2011 signed a further contact with Tenex for supply of low-enriched ura-nium from 2013 to 2022, ramping up to about half of present levels from Russia, with option to match present levels.

The new supplies will come from mined uranium enriched in Rus-sia, rather than recycled weapons. This provides a fallback in case of problems with USEC’s new American Centrifuge plant. USEC is build-ing the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio for operation in 2010, but the project was put on hold in July 2009. Three new enrich-ment plants, being built by other companies, are expected to begin operation before 2020 - Urenco US (formerly National Enrichment Facility), AREVA US’s Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility, and Global Laser Enrichment with Australia’s Silex Systems.

American Centrifuge PlantIn April 2007, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensed construction and operation of the American Centrifuge Plant which uses technology developed over many years by USEC, based on work by DOE in the 1970s and 1980s. The plant is being constructed on the Portsmouth site where the now-closed diffusion plant operated and where a DOE experimental plant operated in the 1980s, involving 1,300 centrifuges and based on a major R&D programme.

The prototype lead cascade started operation in September 2007 and the test programme with it to April 2010 refined the design of the AC100 centrifuge machines (which are much larger than the Euro-pean Urenco centrifuges).

An AC100 lead cascade started operation in March 2010 with “ap-proximately two dozen” machines which USEC planned to increase to 40-50 later in 2010. The original design was superseded in 2009 by the AC100 Mod 1, which is to be used in the commercial plant, and is expected to deliver 350 SWU/yr per machine. Recent cost estimates for the plant are around $4.5bn, excluding finance, and using existing infrastructure. By the end of 2010, USEC had spent $1.95bn and said it needed $2.8bn more than the $2bn in DOE loan guarantees it had applied for and its internally generated cash flow.

The plant would use only 5% of the power per SWU of the old dif-fusion plant it replaces. The licence authorises 7m SWU/yr enrich-ment up to 10% U-235, though normal levels today are only up to 5%, which is becoming a serious constraint as reactor fuel burnup increases. In March 2009, USEC said that it had commitments for $3.3bn of services from 10 customers including leading utilities in the US, Europe and Asia, and amounting to more than half of the initial sales from the plant.

The full plant was to start commercial operation by early 2010, reach 1m SWU capacity a year later and achieve full 3.8m SWU an-nual capacity at the end of 2012. However, in 2009 the project was delayed when DOE loan guarantee funding was suspended. USEC refused a DOE request to withdraw its application, and in July 2010, resubmitted the application after it received $200m investment from Toshiba and Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) which, it said, had strength-ened its credentials.

However, the loan guarantees have still not been decided and USEC entered into a standstill agreement with Toshiba and B&W which had been due to complete the second phase of investment by June 2011 provided DOE made a commitment on a loan guarantee. Recently USEC’s board of directors voted to continue investment in the

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American Centrifuge Plant for October 2011, but at a reduced rate, in the hope of getting a conditional loan guarantee commitment by 1 November but with warnings of layoffs of employees and cancella-tions with suppliers if the deadline is not met.

Urenco US Urenco US has a major centrifuge enrichment plant at Eunice, New Mexico. It uses 6th generation Urenco technology from Europe, and was planned by the Louisiana Energy Services (LES) partnership – comprising Urenco, Exelon, Duke Power, Entergy, and Westinghouse. Construction of the $1.5bn plant was licensed by NRC in mid-2006 when the three utilities passed their share to Urenco. Utility support for the venture – initially amounting to $3.15bn in orders – was crucial in persuading NRC that further US enrichment capacity was required beyond that provided and envisaged by USEC.

NRC approval to begin commercial operation was obtained in mid-2010, with full phase 1 capacity of 3.3m SWU/yr to be reached in 2013. LES has confirmed phase 2 plans to increase capacity to 5.9m SWU/yr over 2014-17, with total investment reaching $4bn. A new centrifuge design may be used in the expansion. The incremental capacity will require NRC approval.

Eagle Rock Enrichment FacilityIn mid-2007, France’s AREVA announced that it proposed to build a 3.3m SWU/yr $2bn centrifuge plant in the US to supply domestic enrichment services. It submitted a licence application to NRC for this Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility in December 2008 with a view to licence approval in mid-2011 and operation early in 2014, ramping up to full capacity in 2018. AREVA Enrichment Services, the owner and operator, signed a procurement & construction contract with URS in February 2011. It will be similar to AREVA’s new French plant (Georges Besse II) and will be built at Idaho Falls, near the DOE Idaho National Laboratory. In 2009, AREVA notified a planned doubling in capacity to 6.6m SWU/yr, with the first stage being 3m SWU/yr. In May 2010, DOE granted it a $2bn loan guarantee.

Global Laser EnrichmentIn 2006 Silex Systems in Australia and GE Energy received US govern-ment approval to develop the Silex (Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation) uranium enrichment process using laser technology. This cleared the way for development and eventual full commercial pro-duction under a licence agreement with Silex. GE (now GE-Hitachi, GEH) is funding the development and making a series of payments to Silex. It will then pay a royalty on revenues from commercial produc-tion. GE said that “commercialisation of the Silex enrichment tech-nology is a crucial part of its long-term growth strategy for the nuclear business.” SILEX was renamed Global Laser Enrichment (GLE).

In October 2007, the two largest US nuclear utilities, Exelon and Entergy, signed letters of intent to contract for uranium enrichment services from GEH. The utilities may also provide GEH with facility

licensing and public acceptance support if needed for development of a commercial-scale GLE plant. In August 2010, TVA agreed to buy $400m of enrichment services from GLE if the project proceeds.

GEH is now operating the GLE test loop at Global Nuclear Fuel’s (GNF’s) Wilmington, North Carolina fuel fabrication facility. [GNF is a partnership of GE, Toshiba, and Hitachi, while GLE comprises GE (51%), Hitachi (25%) and Cameco (24%).] In April 2010, GLE announced suc-cessful completion of the first phase of the test loop programme and said technology validation would continue and a decision on proceeding with a full-scale commercial enrichment facility would then be made.

In mid-2009, GEH submitted the last part of its licence application for this GLE plant, which is expected to take the NRC 30 months to process. If construction proceeds, the GLE commercial production facility at Wilmington, North Carolina would have a target annual capacity of 3.5 to 6m separative work units (SWU). In August 2011 GLE applied to NRC for a permit to build the plant. NRC is expected to deliver its decision in 2012. (See table below)

Fuel fabricationThe US has five fuel fabrication facilities to produce enriched uranium pellets for fuel rods. AREVA, Westinghouse, B&W and General Electric (GE) operate fabrication facilities in Virginia, Washington state, North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition, Shaw-AREVA MOX Services (30% AREVA) is constructing a mixed oxide (mox) fuel fabrication fa-cility at DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. The plant will be owned by the DOEs National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and will dispose of at least 34t of weapons-grade plutonium and convert it into useable fuel. Construction of the $4.9bn facility began in 2007, and it is due to start operation in October 2016.

In 2009, AREVA’s 35-year-old Richland, Washington fuel fabrica-tion plant was the first to receive a 40-year licence extension from the NRC. In December 2010, AREVA and Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel announced a 50-50 joint venture – US Nuclear Fuel – to manufacture APWR fuel at the Richland plant.

DeconversionDeconversion of the depleted uranium (DU), a byproduct of enrich-ment, sometimes considered as a ‘waste’, is not undertaken on a large scale. There are over 700,000t of DU hexafluoride in US. Uranium Disposition Services (UDS), a joint venture of AREVA, Duratek/ Ener-gySolutions, and Burns & Roe, was awarded a $558m contract by the DOE in 2002 to design and build deconversion plants at Portsmouth and Paducah using a process developed by AREVA.

The contract ran to August 2010. The 13,500 t/yr Portsmouth plant started up in mid-2010 and the 18,000 t/yr Paducah later in 2010. B&W Conversion Services won a five-year $428m contract from DOE in December 2010 for uranium deconversion operations at bothe plants. At Portsmouth about 250,000 t depleted UF6 is stored, with another 75,000t expected from Oak Ridge. Paducah holds a further 440,000t.

New US enrichment capacity Source: World Nuclear Association

Type Status Capacity (million SWU/yr) Start-up Full capacity

Urenco/LES Urenco centrifuge Operating 5.9 Mid-2010 2015

USEC American Centrifuge Construction 3.8 on hold 2012 planned

AREVA Urenco centrifuge Planned 3.0 then 6.6 2014 2019

GEH/GLE Laser Proposed 3.5 - 6.0 Possibly 2013

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In December 2009, International Isotopes (INIS) applied for a li-cence to build and operate a 6,500t/y deconversion plant and fluorine extraction facility near Hobbes, New Mexico, 50km from the Urenco US enrichment plant. In April 2010, INIS signed a five-year agreement to provide toll deconversion services for DU tails from Urenco, from 2014. INIS hopes to start production in 2013, subject to raising $75m capital. In-mid 2010, the first part of a $65m loan guarantee applica-tion by INIS was approved DOE, and the company has been invited to submit the second part of its application2.

Earlier an agreement was signed in 2005 between LES and AREVA to use AREVA technology to deconvert LES DU tails. AREVA NC has operated a small deconversion plant in association with its Richland fuel fabrication plant in Washington state.

Plutonium dispositionThe US government has declared 61.5t of weapons-grade plutonium to be excess to the needs of the defence programme. Under the 2000 US-Russia Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement to the US agreed to dispose of 34t by 2014, incorporating it (with depleted uranium) into mox fuel.

Construction of a mox fuel fabrication plant at the SRS to use this plutonium was authorised by NRC early in 2005 and began in August 2007 when funding became available. The Mox Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) is being built by Shaw AREVA MOX Services under a $2.7bn contract with the NNSA, which will own the plant. (Mox plants usually use fresh reactor-grade plutonium which includes about a third non-fissile plutonium isotopes while weapons plutonium has more than 90% fissile isotopes.) The plant is expected to be in opera-tion in 2016, eventually producing 1,700 mox fuel assemblies from the 34t of weapons plutonium or more if the government decide to release further stocks for this purpose.

In February 2010, the NNSA signed an agreement with TVA to evaluate the use of this mox in its Sequoyah and Browns Ferry NPPs.Duke Energy has used four mox test fuel assemblies incorporating this weapons-grade plutonium (fabricated in France) at its Catawba 1 NPP. This was to prepare for possible use of mox for 20-40% of the cores of the Catawba and McGuire reactors from about 2010, using the fuel fabricated at MFFF. Mox using weapons plutonium was burned at the Saxton prototype reactor in the mid-1960s, and some was burned in other US plants before 1977.

Reprocessing used fuelIn 1977, the US government called a halt to the reprocessing of used fuel from commercial reactors as part of its stance against nuclear pro-liferation. The US has some experience with reprocessing oxide fuels as part of its military programme, and has also built three civil repro-cessing plants. The first, a 300 t/y plant at West Valley, New York, was operated successfully from 1966-72. However, increasing regulation required plant modifications which were deemed uneconomic, and the plant was closed. The second was a 300 t/y plant built at Morris, Illinois, incorporating new technology. This worked well on a pilot-scale, but failed to work successfully in the production plant, and was declared inoperable in 1974. The third, a 1,500 t/y plant at Barnwell, South Carolina, was built but not commissioned when government policy changed, and was demolished.

The US has over 250 plant-years of reprocessing operational experi-ence, mostly at government-operated defence plants. These include the H-Canyon plant at SRS which is the last operational facility able to treat

used highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel and similar materials. It was commissioned in 1955 and originally recovered uranium, neptunium and plutonium from used military and research reactor HEU fuel. Since 1998 it has recovered HEU from degraded materials and spent fuel, to recycle it as LEU. This programme will continue to 2019. From 2011 it will treat used HEU fuel from the US and overseas research reactors which have been converted to use low enriched uranium (LEU) or shut down under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.

Policy changesSeveral shifts in energy policy since 2002 indicate that the US may re-sume reprocessing. In June 2005, the report accompanying the $31bn energy and water funding bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee emphasised the need for new nuclear energy technolo-gies. The DOE’s Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) was allocated $85m to develop fuel cycle technologies for Generation IV reactors including reprocessing and use of fast neutron reactors to destroy long-lived components of wastes.

Reducing the volume of high-level wastes (HLW) was seen as im-portant to avoid the need to expand the planned repository at Yucca Mountain. In July 2005, with passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the “recovery of the energy value from spent commercial fuel” became an explicit objective of the AFCI.

In late 2005, the American Nuclear Society issued a position paper stating that “the development and deployment of advanced nuclear reactors based on fast-neutron fission technology is important to the sustainability, reliability, and security of the world’s long-term energy supply.” An initial $50m for “integrated spent fuel recycling facilities” focused largely on fast reactors was committed by Congress in 2006. The US industry body, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), has stressed the need to plan for recycling used fuel to reduce long-lived radioac-tivity arising from it so that in a relatively short time HLW becomes no more toxic than the original uranium ore. This means recycling and burning all the long-lived actinides, which is most efficiently done in fast neutron reactors.

GNEP comes and goesThe development of new reprocessing technology became a central element in the government’s 2006 proposal for a Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), which was intended to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation. Under this proposal, the US and other developed countries would develop proliferation-resistant recycling technologies and provide nuclear fuel to developing countries that promised not to engage in enrichment and reprocessing activities. However, GNEP was criticised for the restrictions it sought to place on developing countries and financial support steadily decreased.

By 2009, under Barack Obama’s Democratic administration, the DOE removed its GNEP website and did not refer to the programme in its bud-get request for FY 2010. In June 2009, the DOE cancelled the program-matic environmental impact statement for GNEP “because it is no lon-ger pursuing domestic commercial reprocessing, which was the primary focus of the prior Administration’s domestic GNEP programme.”

Despite the lack of US government support for GNEP, research activities under AFCI have continued. A DOE-funded demonstration project involving several versions of the UREX+ process for spent fuel is underway at the Argonne National Laboratory. The DOE is also exploring reprocessing technologies such as AREVA’s COEX, which is based on processes already used in France, the UK, Russia and Japan,

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as well as a number of other technologies that would require the wide-spread use of fast neutron reactors.

AREVA has costed plans for a major recycling complex in the US, in-cluding a reprocessing plant and mox fuel fabrication plant, at $25bn. It would have annual input capacity of 2,500t, and is expected to take 12-15 years to licence and build. The reprocessing cost is expected to be less than the 0.1 cent/kWh fee now charged for the nuclear waste fund. A possible site is at Morris, Illinois, which is the only licensed away-from-reactor wet used fuel storage facility in the US. It is adja-cent to the Dresden NPP and currently stores about 700t of used fuel. It was the site of GE’s Midwest Fuel Recovery Plant, a small reprocess-ing plant built in the early 1970s but not operated.

Nuclear wastesThe question of how to store and eventually dispose of HLW has been debated in the US for several decades and is still unresolved. As well as civil HLW (all US used fuel as well as research reactor used fuel of US origin) there is a significant amount of military HLW which Congress intended to share the same geological repository. Naval used fuel is stored at the Idaho National Laboratory.

Since the beginnings of the commercial use of nuclear power, used fuel assemblies have been stored under water in pools (and later in dry casks as well) at reactor sites, and remained the responsibility of the plant owners. The prohibition of reprocessing in 1977, combined with the continued accumulation, brought the question of permanent underground disposal to the forefront.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 established federal respon-sibility for all civil used fuel, including a timetable and procedures for the building of two repositories, funded by fees from utilities, with the federal government taking delivery of the fuel by 1998 along with responsibility for its disposal. The Act was amended in 1987 designating Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the sole initial repository for 70,000t of HLW. This would include 63,000t of used reactor fuel, 2,333t of naval and DOE used fuel and 4,667t of other HLW, all from 126 sites in 39 states.

After several years of failure to get matching bills through both houses of Congress, early in 2000 the House of Representatives finally passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act 2000 fol-lowing the earlier Senate passage of the legislation. However, the President then vetoed it. The Bush Administration pressed ahead with the issue, with several reports in 2001 suggesting no insurmountable scientific or technical problems, although other experts queried this. The US Energy Secretary recommended approval of the site as the US permanent repository. This was strongly supported by Congress and signed into law in July 2002.

Yucca MountainDOE finally submitted a licence application to NRC in June 2008, but less than a year later, the new Barack Obama administration sought to abort the project. In early 2009, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu stated that notwithstanding the 1987 Act, Yucca Mountain was no longer considered an option, and funding was cut back. The admin-istration’s budget request for FY 2011 envisaged shutting down the project altogether.

In February 2010, DOE filed a motion with NRC to “stay” the Yucca Mountain licensing review, and said it intended to withdraw the ap-plication “with prejudice”, which would prevent it from ever being considered again. The DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste

Management, which ran the repository programme, would be elimi-nated, and work on all nuclear waste management issues transferred to the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy.

However, in June 2010, NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) ruled that DOE had no right to substitute its own ideas in place of those legislated by Congress. The DOE and the NRC are bound by law to complete their work at Yucca Mountain unless Congress acts to supercede the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. ASLB stated: “Unless Congress directs otherwise, DOE may not single-handedly derail the legislated decision-making process by withdrawing the Application. DOE’s motion must therefore be denied.”

In January 2010, DOE announced the formation of a 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to “provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to manag-ing the nation’s used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.”

In a memorandum to Energy Secretary Steven Chu President Obama said: “The commission should conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, including all alternatives for the storage, processing, and disposal of ci-vilian and defence used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.” On that basis Yucca Mountain would not be ruled out. However, the commission’s mandate is strategy, not siting. The review will “include an evaluation of advanced fuel cycle technologies that would optimize energy recov-ery, resource utilization, and the minimization of materials” – in other words, reprocessing and recycling.. The commission was to submit an interim report within 18 months and a final report within 24 months

Before the budget cuts and policy changes by the Obama adminis-tration, DOE estimated that the Yucca Mountain repository might be operational about 2021, with some expansion of the original 70,000t capacity. The total cost in mid-2008 was put at about $96bn (in 2007 dollars) for construction, operation for 110 years, decommissioning from 2133 and the transport of used fuel.

Cost of accumulated wastesIn the meantime, storage space at some operating NPPs has run out and at 40 of the 65 nuclear sites pool storage is being supplemented with dry cask storage. Of the total inventory of 58,000t of used fuel, 10,700t was in dry cask storage as of early 2008. By 2017, it is anticipated that practically all NPP sites will need dry storage which will then hold 22,300t of used fuel. A number of utilities have sued the federal government for not meeting its obligation under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act to begin taking waste by 1998 and have been awarded about $1bn by the courts.

In 2004, Exelon agreed with the Justice Department on recovering up to $300m in storage costs for its used fuel from its 17 nuclear reac-tors to 2010, with funding from tax monies, not the Nuclear Waste Fund. In 2006, the US Federal Court awarded $143m in damages to three related New England utilities and $40m to the Sacramento Util-ity District after they had been obliged to build storage facilities.

Then $43m was awarded to Pacific Gas & Electric. In 2007, Duke Energy negotiated $56m for three plants, plus ongoing costs, and Xcel Energy was awarded $116m for costs associated with three reactors between 1998 and 2004. Entergy Arkansas was awarded $48.6m for costs to 2006. Progress Energy received $82.8m in 2008. Other utilities have been suing the federal government in-volving billions of dollars.

Congress established a trust fund for waste management in 1982 under the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management

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(OCRWM), and by the beginning of 2010, utilities had contributed over $31bn (including interest) to the Nuclear Waste Fund through a 0.1 cent/kWh levy towards final disposal, so that by the end of Janu-ary 2010 it had a balance of $24bn, after development expenses for Yucca Mountain. The fund is growing by about $770m a year from utility inputs and $1bn from investment returns.

Other waste projectsAs well as the Yucca Mountain enterprise, Private Fuel Storage (PFS), a consortium of eight utilities, planned to store used fuel on a site in Utah for up to 40 years pending disposal. In February 2006, the NRC issued a 20-year licence for a 40,000t centralised surface dry storage facility on land owned by the Skull Valley band of the Goshute Indi-ans. PFS then offered the facility to DOE for use from 2008 pending Yucca Mountain repository opening, suggesting that it would be very much cheaper than leaving the used fuel at reactor sites. While fuel ownership was originally intended to remain with utility customers, the proposal to DOE was that it would take ownership at the reactor site (as was legally required by 1998) and be responsible for moving it to PFS, and ultimately to Yucca Mountain.

But ongoing state government opposition led to the Department of Interior then disapproving the Goshute-PFS lease and the use of public land as a transport corridor to the planned facility. An appeal against this decision was successful and in July 2010 the “arbitrary and capricious” 2006 Department of Interior ruling was overturned by a District Court ruling. In the light of the 2006 Utah setback, NEI started a search for communities willing to host interim storage sites for used fuel. It received several offers and by mid-2008 had reduced the possibilities to two, and discussions are proceeding. A commer-cially-operated facility on a 400 ha site is envisaged for each location, with the DOE paying rent for casks stored there.

Under new standard contracts with DOE, proponents of new reactor construction must undertake to store used fuel on site indefinitely, so that the DOE does not become liable for delays. The contracts specify that the DOE will begin removing used fuel within 20 years of the first refuelling. As of January 2009, 19 contracts had been signed under the NRC’s Waste Confidence Rule. They are a prerequisite for new reactor licensing and for licence renewals. The rule states that the NRC is confident that a repository (not necessar-ily Yucca Mountain) will be available 50 to 60 years after a reactor operating licence expires.

The WIPP facilityDespite all the controversy over Yucca Mountain, the US has had a successful waste disposal facility operating since 1999. DOE began planning the facility in 1974 and after more than 20 years of scientific study, public input, and regulatory struggles, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) began operations in New Mexico. Disposal operations are expected to continue until 2070 with active monitoring for a fur-ther hundred years. By 2010, the facility had already processed 9,000 shipments of waste. Research continues on the disturbed rock zone geomechanics at WIPP.

Waste for disposal at WIPP must meet certain “waste acceptance criteria”. The facility accepts transuranic waste generated DOE activi-ties. It must have radioactivity exceeding 100 nCi per gram from wastes that produce alpha radiation with a half life of more than 20 years. This includes plutonium, uranium, americium, and neptunium among others. Mixed waste contains both radioactive and hazardous

constituents, and WIPP first received mixed waste in 2000. Mixed waste is joint-regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New Mexico Environment Department.

Waste is placed in rooms 655 metres underground that have been excavated within a 1000 metre thick salt formation where salt tectonics have been stable for more than 250m years. Because drill-ing or excavation in the area will be hazardous long after the area is actively used, there are plans to construct markers to deter inadver-tent human intrusion for the next ten thousand years. Since 1991, the DOE has been working with various experts to devise with a warning system. The markers, called “passive institutional controls”, will include an outer perimeter of 7.6 metre-tall granite pillars built in a four-mile (6 km) square. These will surround an earthen wall, 10 metres high and 30 metres wide. Inside this wall will be another 16 granite pillars and directly above the waste site a roofless granite room providing more information. The team intends to etch warn-ings and informational messages into the granite slabs and pillars in the six official languages of the United Nations (English, Spanish, Russian, French, Chinese, Arabic as well as the Native American Navajo language native to the region, with additional space for trans-lation into future languages.

Low-level wasteFor low-level waste (LLW), there are a number of specialist US facilities – otherwise LLW storage is at reactor sites. Specialist facilities include:1. EnergySolutions at Barnwell, South Carolina, for Class A-C LLW from that state, New Jersey and Connecticut.2. EnergySolutions facility at Clive, Utah, which accepts class A LLW (about 90% of all LLW) from all over the US.3. EnergySolutions at Oak Ridge, Tennessee which claims to be the largest licensed commercial US LLW facility with innovative technologies for radioactive material volume reduction (compaction, melting, incineration) and nearby capacity for recycling depleted uranium.4. US Ecology at Richland, Washington accepts Classes A-C waste from the Northwest and Rocky Mountain compacts.5. Waste Control Specialists in Texas, whose facility was licensed in 2009 for class A, B & C LLW, to operate from late 2010 and also take Vermont’s and DOE LLW. The company is also seeking to take LLW from other state

Decommissioning reactorsNearly 30 civil prototype and commercial reactors have been decom-missioned in the US. NEI reported in 2006 that of the total $32bn estimated to decommission all eligible NPPs at an average cost of $300m, about two-thirds had already been funded. The remainder would be funded over the next 20 years.

In the US, the option of immediate decommissioning of nuclear plants is known as the Decon strategy. The second option, safes-tor, is where a facility is dismantled after allowing much of the radioactivity to decay. The third option, Entomb, is to permanently encase radioactive contaminants onsite until the radioactivity has decayed to a level where restricted release of the facility is possible. US plants with Decon completed are: Big Rock Point, Elk River, Fort St Vrain, Haddam Neck, Maine Yankee, Pathfinder, Rancho Seco, Saxton, Shippingport, Shoreham, Trojan and Yankee Rowe. In 2011 Decon is in progress at Fermi 1, Humboldt Bay 3 and San

Country Profile


Onofre 1. Those plants in Safstor include Dresden 1, Indian Point 1, LaCrosse, Millstone 1, Peach Bottom 1, and Zion 1&2, as well as NS Savannah. Three Mile Island 2 is in post-defuelling monitored storage. The only US plants subject to the Entomb option are three small experimental ones.

** Next month, the final US country profile will look at R&D Most of the information in this profile came from the WNA.

NUCLEAR PLATFORM

Mike Berriochoa

Washington River Protection Solutions

Robotic arm removes waste from US storage tanksFor the first time in history a large robotic arm is at work removing

waste from an aging single-shell radioactive waste storage tank on the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hanford Site in Washington State. Known as the Mobile Arm Retrieval System (MARS), it began transferring waste to a nearby double-shell tank for safe storage at the end of September.

Tank C-107 is a 530,000-gallon tank built in 1943. When retrieval operations began it held approximately 253,000 gallons of waste. Since operations began, MARS has removed more than 20% of the waste volume. The tank farm is located near the centre of DOE’s 1,517.74km2 Hanford site.

“It’s been an extraordinary two-year journey getting MARS designed, built, installed and tested, said Kent Smith, manager of single-shell tank retrieval and closure for Washington River Protec-tion Solutions, DOE’s contractor at the Hanford tank farms.

MARS saves time and moneyThe arm combines lessons learned from previous equipment de-velopment into a single technology, making it capable of retriev-ing all of the waste forms found in Hanford’s waste tanks. In the past, each waste form required a separate technology to remove it, significantly adding to the time and expense of waste retrieval. Multiple sets of equipment had to be installed in the tanks and removed during each clean up.

The new MARS system also will enable DOE to meet its regula-tory commitment to remove all waste from the tanks in Hanford’s C Tank Farm - the oldest, single-shell tanks - by 2014. MARS uses liquid waste from a nearby double-shell tank to mobilize the solids so they can be pumped. Using liquid waste reduces the overall volume of waste that must be stored and ultimately processed through the Waste Treatment Plant, a waste vitrification plant scheduled to begin processing waste in 2019. If necessary, MARS can also use water for waste retrieval.

‘A game changer’“MARS IS AN innovative tool in our waste retrieval tool box and we are excited to be able to put it into service,” Smith said. He added that MARS would be a “game changer” for Hanford - it would allow more waste to be removed from the single-shell tanks faster, and at a lower cost. Because of its hydraulic arm MARS is capable of a wide range of telescoping motion to reach all parts of a tank. The operating head has multiple low and high-pressure spray nozzles that hydraulically “rake” waste to a central pump. The head is also

articulated, allowing it to reach around obstructions encountered in the tank. Because of the size of the arm a 139.7cm diameter hole was cut in the top of C-107 in December 2010. MARS was inserted into the tank in June 2011.

Hanford contractor Washington River Protection Solutions is also testing a vacuum version of MARS that could be used in tanks that are known to have leaked. The vacuum version would use a minimum amount of liquid to mobilise waste and would remove the liquid almost immediately after it is introduced into the tank.

System descriptionMARS is operated remotely from a computer control station, and it offers in-tank viewing capability. Two cameras allow operators to view and control the activity of the arm. A third camera is located on the mast assembly. The large robotic arm has a reach of 12 metres. The in-tank assembly, including the arm, carriage, mast, and hose management systems weighs 9,000kg. The above-ground equipment, including the containment box internals, rotary union, and above-ground hose man-agement system, weighs 43,200kg. The ancillary equipment, including above-ground instrumentation, valve box, electrical system, hydraulic power unit, and high pressure water system, weighs 27,000kg.

The retrieval pump can remove approximately 100 gallons/min-ute at 120 psi pressure, and the pump can be raised and lowered in the tank a total of 3 metres. The sluicing nozzle can handle 90 gal-lons/minute at 100 psi and the high-pressure sluicing nozzles up to 20 gallons/minute at up to 5,000 psi. Columbia Energy and Environ-mental Services, Richland, Washington, developed the MARS sys-tem. Columbia is a protégé company of Washington River Protection Solutions, DOE’s contractor that manages the underground waste storage tanks at Hanford.

URANIUM MARKET ROUND UP

No shortage of resourcesTHE SPOT URANIUM market fluctuated quite gently in October, and ended the month in the same place as it began at $52/lb. Market volumes continued at a rather low level throughout October, extend-ing the period of slumber and low volumes that have been the general trend in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident. We have still to see a renewed test of the $50/lb level, which has surprised some market observers, given the possibility of surplus material coming onto the market post-Fukushima. Late August saw the last test of the $50 level (which was also the low point reached immediately after news of the Fukushima accident broke). There are signs of support as soon as the market goes below $50, which clearly has some psychological significance as a good marker for the market. Buying activity in the late August through October period reversed the slide in the market down to $49/lb in mid-August .

Whether it is the financial players or industry buyers who provide support at below $50 is still not unknown, although it is thought that the Chinese move into the market as soon as the price is in the $40s. The gap with the longer term price remains striking, despite quotations of this having moved down to the low $60s/lb. Even at this level, there is clearly money to be made by the financial players through buying spot and delivering long. This is assuming that they can find interest among the often-conservative uranium buyers in the world’s nuclear utilities.

Country Profile > Nuclear Platform > Uranium Market Round up


Adequate resourcesThe question of the adequacy of uranium resources to fuel future nuclear growth does still come up, despite the quiet uranium market in recent times. The latest IAEA Red Book published in 2010, essentially the “bible” on uranium resources, concludes that regardless of the magnitude of nuclear power growth in the future, the identified uranium resource base is adequate to meet projected future requirements.

While uranium resources are extensive, the vast majority are not delineated or developed. Given the prolonged period of artificially low prices in the 1990s, the primary supply segment has only recently begun to keep up with world demand. With the world’s inventories of secondary supply gradually being depleted, the industry is once again turning to the primary markets to secure the bulk of long-term fuel contracts. However, it will take time for producers to respond.

The myriad of effort and capital required to bring uranium in the ground into full-scale production is considerable. For example, after locating a potential resource, numerous activities need to follow: resource delineation and development; engineering estimates for mining and milling; development of tailings capacity; power, road and other infrastructure development; assessment of technical, jurisdic-tional and political risk; establishing a workforce, many with spe-cialised skills; decommissioning and reclamation planning; licensing and regulatory approvals. It is understandable that the lead times to bring a newly discovered resource on stream can take in excess of 10 years, depending on the mine type.

Ensuring security of supplyThe degree of security afforded by uranium resources is greater if ac-count is taken of some of the less well-proven resources quoted in the Red Book, termed Prognosticated and Speculative Resources. These may also only be mined at significantly higher extraction costs, but a world total of over 15mt is reasonable. If uranium did ever become apparently scarcer, tails assays could be lowered to reduce uranium requirements, while further recycling of nuclear fuel would be promoted.

Additional security is essentially provided by world resources of thorium, which are believed to be more extensive than uranium. There has been a significant amount of research into fueling reac-tors with thorium and this continues today. India, in particular, remains set on utilizing its thorium reserves to fuel reactors, but the opening up of its nuclear sector to outside supply may lessen this. It assumes exploiting thorium in future breeder reactors in conjunction with usage of plutonium accumulated from repro-cessed spent fuel from current reactors. Norway is another country which has been considering the thorium fuel cycle on the basis of its vast thorium resources.

Of greater importance within the next 20-30 years than the exact magnitude of the uranium resources base, are the econom-ics of exploiting the present established reserves in order to ensure that there is adequate supply available on a timely basis to fuel the present and anticipated reactors. This is the issue currently being assessed in all the prospective mines around the world, particularly those (very much in Africa) where the grades are relatively low and capital investment requirement high.

Uranium Market Round up > Uranium Prices

Spot uranium pricesSpot ¥ 4,486

4 Jul (ex €/$0.68900, ¥/$80,849)

Spot $ 52.75

Spot € 36.34

Spot ¥ 4,265

1 Aug (ex €/$0.70084, ¥/$77.128)

Spot $ 52.25

Spot € 36.62

Spot ¥ 4,030

5 Sep (ex €/$0.70883, ¥/$76.928)

Spot $ 51.00

Spot € 36.15

Spot ¥ 3,923

10 Oct (ex €/$0.73251, ¥/$76.663)

Spot $ 52.75

Spot € 38.64

Spot ¥ 4,044

31 Oct (ex €/$0.71807, ¥/$78.003)

Spot $ 52.00

Spot € 37.34

Spot ¥ 4,056

Note: prices are for Ux U3O8 All prices quoted are from Ux Consulting CompanySource:www.uxc.com

URANIUM PRICES

CME Uranium Futures - 07 November 2011

38.00

40.00

42.00

44.00

46.00

48.00

50.00

52.00

54.00

56.00

11-O c t

07-N ov

Source: CME

Spot Uranium prices have been collected from the Ux Consulting Company, the leading provider of global Uranium pricing information. Futures prices are from CME Uranium Futures listing. Both are reported in US Dollars per pound (weight).

CME Uranium Futures ($) - 07 November 2011

11-Oct 07-Nov % Change

Nov-11 52.50 52.50 0.0%

Dec-11 52.50 52.50 0.0%

Jan-12 52.50 52.75 0.5%

Feb-12 52.75 53.00 0.5%

Mar-12 53.15 53.00 -0.3%

Apr-12 53.55 53.40 -0.3%

May-12 53.55 53.80 0.5%

Jun-12 53.70 53.80 0.2%

Jul-12 53.70 53.95 0.5%

Aug-12 53.80 54.00 0.4%

Sep-12 53.80 54.45 1.2%

Oct-12 53.80 54.50 1.3%

Nov-12 53.80 54.60 1.5%

Dec-12 54.75 Tracking Unit: 250 pounds of U308Source: CME


Outage Watch > Carbon Markets View

OUTAGE WATCH

ARMENIAThe Armenian nuclear power plant resumed operations on 28 October, having been offline since 11 September for refuelling and preventive maintenance work.

CzECH REPUBLICPower utility CEZ restarted unit 2 at Dukovany NPP on 18 October after a scheduled maintenance and refuelling shutdown. Unit 1 remains halted while units 3 and 4 are operating at almost full capacity, CEZ said in a statement.

FRANCEFrance’s grid company, Reseau de Transport d’Electricite (RTE) reported no unplanned outages on 7 November. The following plants were offline: Belleville 1, Bugey 2 and 5, Chinon B2, Chooz B1, Civaux 1 and 2, Cruas 2, Fessenheim 2, Gravelines 1, Paluel 4 (to 12 November), Penly 1 and Tricastin 3.

GERMANYOn 7 October E.ON reported planned outage for Grohnde from19 November-2 December. RWE reported no planned outages. Vatten-fall/E.ON’s Kruemmel plant has been closed since 4 July 2009 and is not expected to restart. The Brunsbuettel plant has been closed since 18 July 2007.

IRANIran’s electricity grid in September, was “temporarily disconnected” for safety tests, the government’s news website reported. The Rus-sian-built 1,000MW Bushehr plant started generating electricity at 50% of its capacity on 7 October and will be offline for “several weeks” until it can operate at full capacity by the end of 2011.

JAPANOn 2 November there were 43 units offline including: Hokkaido’s Tomari 1and 2: Tohoku’s Higashidori 1 and Onagawa 1-3 (earthquake);

Tepco’s Fukishima Daichi 1-6 (earthquake), Fukushima Daini 1-4 (earthquake) Chubu’s Hamaoka 3-5 (at government request); Hokiruku’s Shika 1 (idling for check up) and 2; Kansai’s Mihama 1 and 3, Takahama 1and 4 and Ohi 1,3 and 4; Chugoku’s Shimane 1 (suspend-ed for check up); Shikoku’s Ikata 1 and 3; Kyushu’s Genkai 2 and 3 and 3 Sendai 1 and 2; and JAPC’s Tokai II (earthquake) and Tsurugu 1 and 2; as well as five of Tepco’s seven units at Kashiwazali-Kariwa (units 2-4 from earlier earthquake and 1 and 7).

RUSSIAFour units were offline for routine maintenance on 7 November: Balakovo one unit; Bilibino one unit; Kalinin one unit; and Leningrad one unit.

SOUTH KOREAOn 7 November, Ulchin units 2 and 4 were offline.

UKRAINEUnit 3 at South Ukraine was disconnected from the grid on 25 October for repairs after two turbine pumps stopped and an automatic protec-tion system was activated. It was restarted the next day. Khmelnytsky unit 1 and Zaporizhia unit 5 were also closed for repairs.

UKThe 450MWe nuclear plant Heysham 1-2 was closed on 4 Novem-ber for a scheduled statutory outage until 14November. Sizewell B was reconnected to the grid on 23 October, following its planned refuelling outage which started on 2 September. Unit B21 at Dungeness nuclear plant restarted on 23 October, after an un-planned outage on 9 October.

USThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 7 November reported the following units offline: Millstone 3, Salem 1, Three Mile Island 1, Brunswick1, Crystal River 3, Farley 2, North Anna 1 and 2, Oconee 2, Davis-Besse, Dresden 2, Point Beach 1, Arkansas Nuclear 1, Callaway, Fort Calhoun, and South Texas 2.

CARBON MARKET VIEW

05 NOVEMBER 2011: The price of offsetting carbon emissions has remained on its downward trajectory over the past fortnight as economic concerns and demand uncertainty dragged on the outlook for both the European carbon permit and CER (Certified Emission Reductions) markets.

European carbon permit prices for 2011 are currently trading at €9.71/t (Marex Spectron based). This is 6% lower than their value a fortnight ago when they closed the week at €10.36/t. Further out, the 2014 product was also lower, falling to €11.30/t (from €12.27/t on October 21), which represents a loss of 8%.

The CER market saw similar declines to the European carbon permits. 2011 CERs are currently trading at €6.53/t, down 6% from €6.93/t on October 21. 2012 CERs are now at €6.59/t from €7.06/t a fortnight ago, representing a weakening of 7%.

The differential between EU carbon and CERs is currently €3.18/t for 2011 products. This is a smaller differential for the 2011 product than was reported two weeks ago when the margin was at €3.43/t.

Further out, the differential rises to €3.57/t for 2012, which also narrowed slightly compared with its margin a fortnight ago of €3.79/t.

Forward EU carbon Prices (€/t of CO2)2011 2012 2013 2014

14 Oct 10.40 10.89 11.70 12.42

21 Oct 10.38 10.85 11.58 12.27

28 Oct 10.40 10.88 11.56 12.23

3 Nov 9.71 10.16 10.73 11.30

-8.1% -7.8% -7.7% -7.8%Source: Marex Spectron


S&P’s Global Energy Indices

Standard & Poor’s Global Energy Indices (Total Return) - History

S& P Global Energy Indices (Total Return) - Sep to Oct 11

The S&P Global Nuclear Energy Index is comprised of 20 of the largest publicly traded nuclear energy companies from both developed markets and emerging markets and has been developed to provide investors with diversified exposure across the global nuclear energy markets. It is equally distributed between two clusters: Nuclear Materials, Equipment and Services and Nuclear Energy Generation.

The S&P Global Clean Energy Index provides exposure to 30 companies from around the world that are involved in clean en-ergy related businesses, including a diversified mix of clean energy production and equipment and technology companies.

Designed to measure investable opportunities in the complete alternative energy space, the S&P Global

Alternative Energy Index is the combination of the S&P Global Clean Energy Index and the S&P Global Nuclear Index, with 50 constituents.

S&P’S GLOBAL ENERGY INDICES

COMPETING FUELS, POWER PRICES AND CARBON

Natural gasUS (Henry Hub)

$/mmBtu UK

(£)ppt GER (BEB)

€/MWh

Sep-11 3.91 54.36 24.23

Oct-11 3.57 54.73 23.12

% change -8.6% 0.7% -4.6%Source: ICE, Marex Spectron

OilClose prices ICE Brent

$/bblICE Gas Oil

$MT

03-Oct 103.12 898.25

01-Nov 107.72 941.25

% change 4.5% 4.8%Source: ICE

CoalNW Europe Japan

Steam coal ($/t) Into Into

07-Oct 118.72 138.65

04-Nov 117.57 134.10

% change -1.0% -3.3%Source:TheMcCloskeyGroup

PowerUK

£/MWhGermany

€/MWhUS*

$/MWhJapan

000’Y/MWh

May-11 49.40 58.39 48.02 11.33

Jun-11 50.16 53.41 52.25 10.63

Jul-11 47.65 46.63 55.34 12.04

Aug-11 46.49 48.55 45.41 13.58

Sep-11 48.15 53.66 40.73 11.85

Oct-11 46.45 52.42 38.20 14.63

% change (MoM) -3.5% -2.3% -6.2% 23.5%

* Note: average of PJM peak and off peakSource: Marex Spectron, ICE, JEPX

European Carbon2011 2012 2013

€/t CO2

03-Oct 10.74 11.20 12.01

01-Nov 9.88 10.35 11.00

% Change -8.0% -7.5% -8.4%Source: Marex Spectron

S&P’s Global IndicesAug-11 Sep-11 Oct-11 Change

Nuclear Energy 2,516 2,372 2,390 0.8%

Alternative Energy 1,595 1,429 1,358 -5.0%

Clean Energy 912 771 678 -12.1%

index: 1000 = Nov 2003Source: Standars & Poors

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4 ,5 0 0 .0 0

Poin

ts

S & P G lo b a l N u cle a r E n e rg y In d e x

S & P G lo b a l A lte rn a tive E n e rg y In d e x

S & P G lo b a l C le a n E n e rg y In d e x

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S & P G lo b a l N u cle a r E n e rg y In d e x S & P A lte rn a tive E n e rg y In d e x S & P G lo b a l C le a n E n e rg y In d e x


Global Nuclear

World Nuclear Association’s global nuclear statistical overview Nuclear Electricity

Generation 2010 Reactors Operable

October 2011Reactors Under

ConstructionOctober 2011

Reactors PlannedOctober 2011

Reactors proposedOctober 2011

Uranium Required

2011

billion kWh % e No. MWe net No. MWe gross No. MWe gross No. MWe gross tonnes U

Argentina 6.7 5.9 2 935 1 745 2 773 1 740 208

Armenia 2.3 39.4 1 376 - - 1 1,060 63

Bangladesh - - - - - - - - 2 2,000 -

Belarus - - - - - - 2 2,000 2 -

Belgium 45.7 51.2 7 5,943 - - - - - - 995

Brazil 13.9 3.1 2 1,901 1 1,405 - - 4 4,000 318

Bulgaria 14.2 33.1 2 1,906 - - 2 1,900 - - 309

Canada 85.5 15.1 17 12,044 3 2,190 3 3,300 3 1,845

Chile - - - - - - - - 4 4,400 -

China 71.0 1.8 14 11,271 27 28,920 51 59,780 120 123,000 4,079

Czech Republic 26.4 33.2 6 3,722 - - 2 2,400 1 1,200 591

Egypt - - - - - - 1 1,000 1 1,000 -

Finland 21.9 28.4 4 2,741 1 1,700 - - 2 3,000 1,152

France 410.1 74.1 58 63,130 1 1,720 1 1,720 1 1,100 9,254

Germany 133.0 28.4 9 12,003 - - - - - - 1,934

Hungary 14.7 42.1 4 1,880 - - - - 2 2,200 331

India 20.5 2.9 20 4,385 6 4,600 17 15,000 40 49,000 1,305

Indonesia - - - - - - 2 2,000 4 4,000 -

Iran - - 1 915 - - 2 2,000 1 300 168

Israel - - - - - - - - 1 1,200 -

Italy - - - - - - - - 10 17,000 -

Japan 280.3 29.2 51 44,642 2 2,756 10 13,772 5 6,760 2,805

Jordan - - - - - - 1 1,000 -

Kazakhstan - - - - - - 2 600 2 600 -

Korea DPR (North) - - - - - - - - 1 950 -

Korea RO (South) 141.9 32.2 21 18,785 5 5,800 6 8,400 - - 4,029

Lithuania - - - - - - 1 1,350 - - -

Malaysia - - - - - - - - 1 1,200 -

Mexico 5.6 3.6 2 1,600 - - - - 2 2,000 285

Netherlands 3.8 3.4 1 485 - - - - 1 1,000 102

Pakistan 2.6 2.6 3 725 1 340 1 340 2 2,000 113

Poland - - - - - - 6 6,000 - - -

Romania 10.7 19.5 2 1,310 - - 2 1,310 1 655 175

Russia 159.4 17.1 32 23,084 10 8,960 14 16,000 30 28,000 4,912

Saudi Arabia - - - - - - - - 16 20,000 -

Slovakia 13.5 51.8 4 1,816 2 880 - - 1 1,200 299

Slovenia 5.4 37.3 1 696 - - - - 1 1,000 137

South Africa 12.9 5.2 2 1,800 - - - - 6 9,600 304

Spain 59.3 20.1 8 7,448 - - - - - - 1,379

Sweden 55.7 38.1 10 9,399 - - - - - - 1,366

Switzerland 25.3 38.0 5 3,252 - - - - 3 4,000 527

Thailand - - - - - - - - 5 5,000 -

Turkey - - - - - - 4 4,800 4 5,600 -

Ukraine 84.0 48.1 15 13,168 - - 2 1,900 11 12,000 2,288

UAE - - - - - - 4 5,600 10 14,400 -

United Kingdom 56.9 15.7 18 10,745 - - 4 6,680 9 12,000 2,093

USA 807.1 19.6 104 101,433 1 1,218 7 8,640 27 37,400 18,376

Vietnam - - - - - - 2 2,000 12 13,000 -

WORLD** 2,630.0 13.8 432 368,467 63 63,934 152 171,325 350 399,655 62,552

IAEA- for nuclear electricity production & percentage of electricity (% e) 01/07/11. WNA: Global Nuclear Fuel Market (reference scenario) - for U.Operating = Connected to the grid; Building/Construction = first concrete for reactor poured, or major refurbishment under way; Planned = Approvals, funding or major commitment in place, mostly expected in operation within 8-10 years;Proposed = Specific program or site proposals, expected operation mostly within 15 years. Planned and Proposed are generally gross MWe, operating and construction generally net MWe.New plants coming on line are balanced by old plants being retired. Over 1996-2009, 43 reactors were retired as 49 started operation. There are no firm projections for retirements over the period covered by this Table, but WNA estimates that at least 60 of those now operating will close by 2030, most being small plants. The 2009 WNA Market Report reference case has 143 reactors closing by 2030. TWh = Terawatt-hours (billion kilowatt-hours), MWe = Megawatt net (electrical as distinct from thermal), kWh = kilowatt-hour.


Nuclear Business Share Prices

Nuclear Related Share Prices - as of 7 November 2011Company 11-Oct 07-Nov % Change Currency Exchange

Alstom 25.24 27.06 7.2% € Paris

Areva 22.50 20.37 -9.5% € Paris

Centrica 307.60 302.50 -1.7% pence (£) London

Cameco Corp 20.57 20.35 -1.1% C$ Toronto

CEZ 0.71 0.75 5.5% K ‘000 Prague

Chubba Electric Power 1.49 1.37 -8.2% Y ‘000 Tokyo

Denison Mines Corp 1.21 1.52 25.6% C$ Toronto

E.ON 17.89 16.62 -7.1% € Frankfurt

EdF 22.96 21.30 -7.2% € Paris

ENBW 32.79 34.80 6.1% C$ Toronto

Endesa 17.45 16.91 -3.1% € Madrid

El Paso Electric 31.24 33.55 7.4% $ New York

Energy Resources of Australia Ltd 3.29 1.82 -44.7% A$ Sydney

Entergy Corp 65.72 69.42 5.6% $ New York

Exelon Corp 42.10 44.83 6.5% $ New York

First Uranium 0.23 0.27 17.4% C$ Toronto

Fortum 17.80 17.69 -0.6% € Helsinki

GDF Suez 23.17 20.49 -11.6% € Paris

General Electric 16.14 16.39 1.5% $ New York

Hitachi 0.39 0.42 9.3% Y ‘000 Tokyo

Iberdrola 5.25 4.97 -5.3% € Madrid

Kansai Electric Power 1.21 1.12 -7.4% Y ‘000 Tokyo

Korea Electric Power 22.10 24.15 9.3% Won ‘000 Seoul

McDermott International 14.20 11.64 -18.0% $ New York

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 0.33 0.32 -0.6% Y ‘000 Tokyo

NextEra Energy 54.77 56.03 2.3% $ New York

Paladin Energy Ltd 1.64 1.42 -13.4% A$ Sydney

Paladin Energy Ltd 1.70 1.46 -14.1% C$ Toronto

RWE 30.54 29.33 -4.0% € Frankfurt

Siemens 72.85 72.84 0.0% € Frankfurt

Tohoku Electric Power 1.01 0.80 -21.3% Y ‘000 Tokyo

Tokyo Electric Power 0.22 0.29 36.1% Y ‘000 Tokyo

Toshiba 0.33 0.35 5.5% Y ‘000 Tokyo

Uranium One Inc 2.14 2.79 30.4% C$ Toronto

Uranium Participation Corp 5.58 5.86 5.0% C$ Toronto

USEC Inc 1.29 1.88 45.7% $ New York

MNB basket 885.64 883.69 -0.2%

Note: The MNB basket is a simple sum of the stocks it tracks in this table. It is purely used as an indication for which way the wind is blowing for Nuclear related company stocks and should not be viewed as a empirical financial tool.

IHS Jane’s CBRN Response HandbookA comprehensive pocket guide providing essential planning and response procedures for a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incident.

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Jane’s CBRN Response handbook provides comprehensive single-source

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McCloskey Asia Pacific Coal Outlook Conference 2011November 30 – December 1 2011, Conrad Bali, Bali, Indonesia

The event for producers, traders, financiers, logistics operators and buyers within the Asian coal markets.

Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are available:

If your company is interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at this event, please contact:Julia Potter, Tel: +44 (0)1730 236169, Email: [email protected]

For further information please contact: Susie Hansford, Tel: +44 (0) 1730 236174, Email: [email protected]

For updates visit www.mccloskeycoal.com/conferences


17-18 Apr 2012:Nuclear Environmental Discharge Conference 2012; Harwell, UK; Nuclear Institute.Contact: Tel: +44 20 8695 8223; Fax: +44 20 8695 8229 Email: [email protected] http://www.nedcon2012.com

17-19 Apr 2012 : World Nuclear Fuel Cycle : Helsinki ; World Nuclear Association.Contact: Tel: +44 20 7451 1520; Fax: +44 20 7839 1501http://www. wnfc.info

18-19 Apr 2012: 45th JAIF Annual Conference; Tokyo, Japan; Japan Atomic Industrial Forum. Contact: Conference Secretariat. Tel: +81 3 6812 7101; Fax: +81 3 6812 7110.Email: [email protected] http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/index.php

23-25 Apr 2012: Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference 2012; Manchester, UK; Nuclear Institute.Contact: Tel: +44 20 8695 8220; Fax: +44 20 8695 8229 Email: [email protected]://www.nuclearinst.com

21-23 May 2012: Nuclear Energy Assembly (NEA); Charlotte, US; Nuclear Energy Institute. Contact: NEI. Tel: +1 202 739 8000; Fax: +1 202 785 4019.Email: [email protected] http://www.nei.org/newsandevents/conferencesandmeetings/2012

23-24 May 2012: Radioactive Materials Transport and Storage 2012; London, UK; Nuclear Institute.Contact: Tel: +44 20 8695 8223; Fax: +44 20 8695 8223 Email: [email protected] http://www.ramtransport2012.com

3-6 Jun 2012: 9th International Conference on Nuclear Option in Countries with Small and Medium Electricity Grids; , Zadar, Croatia; Croatian Nuclear Society.Contact: Dr Igor Vukovic, [email protected] http://www.nuclear-option.org/

4-6 Jun 2012: Atomexpo 2012; Moscow, Russia; Rosatom.Contact: Tel +7 495 66 33 821; Fax: +7 495 66 33 820Email: [email protected]://www.atomexpo.com

2-6 Sep 2012: Top Fuel 2012; Manchester, UK: European Nuclear Society. Contact: Kirsten Epskamp, Tel. +32 2 505 30 54; Fax +32 2 502 39 02Email: [email protected]

12-14 Sep 2012: 37th Annual Symposium; London, UK; World Nuclear Association.Contact: Tel: +44 20 7451 1520; Fax: +44 20 7839 1501http://www.wna-symposium.org/


14-18 Nov 2011: International Conference on Research Reactors: Safe Management and Eff ective Utilization; Rabat, Morocco; International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Contact: Conference Secretariat. Tel: +43 1 26000 21314; Fax: +43 1 2600 7. Email: Offi [email protected] http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/

5-6 Dec 2011: Nuclear Energy Asia 2011; Hong Kong; International Quality and Productivity Centre. Contact: IQPC. Tel: +65 6722 9388; Fax: +65 6224 2515.Email: [email protected] http://www.nuclearenergyasia.com/

6-8 Dec 2011: III International Forum of Nuclear Industry Suppliers ATOMEX 2011, Moscow, Russia, Rosatom.Contact: Tel: +7 495 66 33 821; Fax: +7 495 66 33 820 http://www.atomeks.ru/en/atomex2011

17 Jan 2012: World Nuclear Power Briefi ng 2012 - Policies, Issues, Safety and Technological Enhancement for New Nuclear; Hanoi, Vietnam; Strategic Communications. Contact: Christina Logan. Tel: +64 21 858 455 E mail: clogan@pacifi c.net.sghttp://www.stratcoms.com/nuclearpower2012

9-10 Feb 2012: Platts 8th Nuclear Energy Conference: Bethesda, US: Platts. Contact: Ron Berg, Tel: [email protected] / www.nuclearenergyconference.com

12-15 Feb 2012: Pime 2012; Warsaw, Poland; European Nuclear Society. Contact: Ms Kirsten Epskamp, Tel: +32 2 505 30 54; Fax: +32 2 502 39 02 Email: [email protected] http://www.euronuclear.org/events/pime/pime2012

21-23 Feb 2012: India International Nuclear Symposium; New Delhi; World Nuclear Association.Contact: Tel: +44 20 7451 1520; Fax: +44 20 7839 1501http://www.wna-symposium.org/india/

26 Feb-1 Mar 2012: Waste Management 2012; Phoenix, US; WM Symposia. Contact: Jenny Seff rood, Tel: +1 480 557 0263; Fax: +1 520 829 3550Email: [email protected] www.wmsym.org

13-15 Mar 2012: Regulatory Information Conference (RIC): Washington DC, US; US NRC. Contact: Tel: +1 301 415 7000http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/conference-symposia/ric/

3-6 Apr 2012: Nuclear Industry China 2012 (NIC ‘12); Beijing, China; Chinese Nuclear Society (CNS), China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation (CNEIC) and Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce (BMCC). Contact: Lin Yi. Tel: +86 10 65268150; Fax: +86 10 6526815.Email: [email protected] http://www.nic-expo.net/nic2012/

Events Calendar